Try and Try Again
by V-Marie-Ashes
Summary: They had been defeated, and lost one of their own. Zoro knew there was nothing they could do now, at least until an old man showed up. But had it been worth it? To live with the memories like this? Watch as the crew try to recreate their past, to get back all their nakama. All the while dealing with the repercussions of the day that everything changed. !Nakamaship/Time-Travel!
1. This moment in time

**_If you're reading this for the first time, thank you so much for finding it in the depths of the fanfiction sea, it really means a lot to me._**

 _ **AN:**_ _Yes this is another one of those time-travel fic's you've seen so many of around. I've read quite a few, but the romance has a tendency to put me off because it has a ship I don't like. I have nothing against those who incorporate them in their story, but I've sometimes not finished reading them because of it. So I decided not to put any ships into this one. It will most likely be purely friendship and adventure, some of my ships might bleed through from time to time though, and you're free to tell me if it bothers you so I can fix it in later chapters. This is my take on how things would go if the Strawhats went back in time, taking into account problems that come with experiencing trauma and casualties of war, note that I've tried to do as much research on these subjects to make the story as authentic as possible._

 _Please be advised that if you have suffered some kind of trauma in your life, or have any form of mental illness, this story might_ _ **trigger**_ _you. Please take care of yourself if you notice that anything in this story triggers you in anyway. Stay safe and if you're walking through hell, keep walking. I promise you, it does get better._

 _ **Note**_ _: Chapters 1-6 has finally all been revised [12.03.17]  
_ _Chapter 7 is still being worked on because I hate that particular arc, so I don't know when it'll be up yet. Please be patient with me on that one._

 _ **Note:**_ _There are_ _ **spoilers**_ _in this story, so please read the Whole Cake Island arc (or at least watch/read the Zou Arc) before reading to avoid spoilers._

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 **Try and Try Again**

 **Chapter 1 – This moment in time**

Everything had been going well for the Strawhats, the rescue Sanji team had successfully made it to Wano Kuni and met up with the rest of the crew, they had managed to get copies of the Road Poneglyph and the two other poneglyphs at Whole Cake Island (courtesy of Brook), and they had managed to pull Sanji out of the mess he was in almost unscathed. There were still some unresolved issues between Sanji and the rest however, but they hadn't had time to address them before they had thrown themselves head first into the fight against the Shogun and Kaido to take back Wano and free its people. The fight had lasted a lot longer than anyone of them had anticipated though, but they had, by an immense amount of luck, come out the victors. After the fight the country had erupted into festive madness and they had of course thrown a party, in real Strawhat fashion.

They had been careless though, not even hours into the party a horde of marine battleships had shown up, with non-other than Fleet Admiral Sakazuki bringing up the rear. Upon seeing his face, Luffy had launched himself at him in blind fury, forgetting everything about his own exhaustion and injuries. He had thought that he'd gotten over Ace's death by now, but seeing his murderer again after so long had made him lose it completely. All the pain and grief that he thought he'd gotten over had come back full force, and he hadn't been able to stop himself. The fight had however been horribly one-sided as Luffy, in his rage, had been unable to control his attacks properly, and had over used his haki to the point where Sakazuki finally shot a magma covered fist through his torso, just like he had done with Ace. No matter how hard the crew had fought, they had lost. Zoro and Sanji had realized at the same time what had happened, and Zoro had given the order to retreat. Bruised and badly beaten they had managed to get away. How? They weren't sure, but they had.

Upon reaching the nearest island Zoro had wandered off to blow off some steam, cutting everything in his way. He was so angry, not with Luffy or any of the others, but with himself. Luffy was dead and there was nothing he could do to help. He felt so utterly useless, _I'm not strong enough, I'm never strong enough, fuck_. Then suddenly everything went grey around him, and there was a man in front of him, sitting on a fence. Zoro could have sworn he wasn't there a second ago, he would have felt him, and what was up with everything suddenly going grey? "Huuuuhmm… I didn't think you pirates of the Strawhat Crew would lose at this point in time." The old man cocked his head to the side looking at Zoro sympathetically.

Zoro looked at the other man, not confused as one might think, but with pure unguarded fury. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" He snarled at the other man.

"Now, now! Calm down, I wasn't mocking you, it's just that this wasn't supposed to happen, but as faith would have it, it did." The man looked at Zoro, not a shred of fear visible in his face.

Zoro took a deep breath, _it wouldn't do to attack people at random, Luffy would hate me for it._ He let the breath go. "What are you talking about old man?"

"I have seen what will become of this world if the World Government wins this war, and it is not pleasant, you were our last hope at defeating them, but seeing as faith is a cruel mistress, you never reached your true potential." The man said; there was obvious sadness in his voice. "But there is still hope." He smiled timidly at Zoro.

"Huh?" Zoro was confused, how could there still be hope when Luffy was no longer there with them. "What do you mean, still hope?"

The man jumped off the fence. "I have a proposition for you, if you accept you will be able to change the future."

Zoro just stared blankly at him, _what the hell is he saying? Change the future? How the fuck is that possible?_ Zoro shook his head slightly. "What are you proposing old man?" Even in Grand Line they'd never encountered anything that could mess with time, if that was indeed what the man was talking about. The future made itself with their actions, and there was nothing that could change that. He had never been one for wishful thinking, what was done was done and there was nothing anyone could do about it other than move forwards and take the consequences head on.

The man looked at Zoro, he knew approaching the first mate of the Strawhats with this was risky, as he knew the man was sceptical to anything that had to do with faith, but he had to try. He had sworn to never interfere in the vowing of time, but he couldn't just sit by and watch how the world would tear itself apart anymore, the world needed the Strawhats, just like it had needed Roger and his crew so many years ago. He knew that there were great dangers involved in doing what he was about to do, but it would be for the best he told himself. "First I need you to come with me, and then we can discuss more, if you're up for it."

As the man started walking off Zoro snapped back to reality, "Oi, I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me what the hell is going on!" He folded his arms over his chest; _the old man has to be crazy for thinking I'm just going to blindly follow him anywhere without a really good reason_! The man sighed, "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you much here, please come with me and I'll explain more when we're somewhere safe."

Zoro grumbled, he really wanted to know what was going on, but he wasn't sure that going with an old man anywhere was a good idea, it could be a trap, and he'd long since found out that size and age definitely didn't matter on the Grand Line. _Fuck it._ He let his right hand fall on Wado's hilt, "If you try anything, I promise you'll meet your end on the tip of this blade." He kept a few paces behind the man, using observation to keep track on his surroundings and scout for dangers, but he couldn't hear anything, in fact, he couldn't even hear the rest of the crew, even though they weren't far away. _What the hell is going on here?_ He felt cold dread creep up his back, had they been found? Were the rest of them already dead? _Shit._

He looked over his shoulder in the direction where he thought the crew was, he needed to go back and find out what was happening, he couldn't lose them too. "They're fine, don't worry," the old man said calmly over his shoulder to him, "Don't worry? How the fuck can you say that? I can't hear their voices anymore, how the hell can you possibly know that they're fine?" Fury was rolling off him in waves again, he needed to get back to the crew, he needed to know they weren't dead too.

"I know, because we're currently in a time pocket, please just follow me, I'll explain more when we're inside and safe." He sighed as they stopped in front of a mountain. "Here we are," He placed a hand on a stone in the rock wall and an entrance into a cave opened up in front of them. Zoro grumbled, he wanted to turn around and head back, he didn't want to care about what the old man was saying, but he couldn't lie to himself, he did want to know what was going on, and this man had answers.

"Welcome to my humble abode" The man said as he stepped inside the cave. Zoro looked behind himself once more, everything was still grey, and there were no sounds. Still unnerved, he walked in after him. The moment Zoro had stepped inside however; the opening sealed itself behind him. "Don't worry, you will be able to leave if you want to, it's just a precaution." The man said as Zoro had instinctively reached for Shusui with his free hand and tightened his grip on Wado with his other. He didn't release his grip on either however, he still wasn't sure if the old man could be trusted or not.

"Now will you tell me what the hell is going on?" Zoro growled through clenched teeth, _the guy better start talking, because if the others are dead when I come back, I'm going to kill him_. He had no idea what the guy wanted, and it was infuriating.

"Ah yes, as I said earlier your crew wasn't supposed to have been defeated at this moment in time, but alas it happened. I had hoped I wouldn't have had to intervene and history would have unfolded like it should, but it seems I was forced to act regardless. Now as to why you are here Roronoa Zoro. As you have probably figured out by now I am proposing sending you back in time. I'm only able to tell you the general idea of how it's done however, because this is one dangerous gift to have, and I can't allow it to fall into the wrong hands." He looked over at Zoro, who just stood there motionless. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had observed the Strawhats for quite some time he would have missed the subtle shaking of Zoro's hands, and the slight flexing of his muscles after hearing that. _So he didn't know after all…_

Zoro felt his blood boil over, and he couldn't suppress it anymore, "WHAT! Is this some kind of sick joke? You drag me back here to feed me some cock'an bull story about time-travel? Well fuck you, I'm leaving!" He couldn't believe it, he'd let himself be led off by a crazy old fart, and now the entire crew could have been killed because of it. _Fuck I'm so stupid!_ As he turned to leave he found that he couldn't move at all, his whole body was locked in place, "What did you do to me?" He snarled at the old man, seeing him hold up a hand in front of himself.

"I'm truly sorry Roronoa, but I can't let you leave until you've heard me out." The look in the man's eyes were apologetic, which took Zoro by surprise, he had expected to see a look of malice or glee, but not this. "Please let me explain at least," he said dejectedly, "-if you still want to leave afterwards you're free to do so, but you need to hear me out."

Zoro struggled against whatever was holding him in place, gritting his teeth. He wanted to go back and check on the crew, he needed to know that they were safe. "I… I don't care about what you have to say," he growled through his teeth. "Oh I think you do, Roronoa." The man went over to a little table Zoro hadn't noticed before now, and sat down in one of the chairs, he beckoned to Zoro to do the same, and before he knew it his body was moving on its own accord. He still had his hands on Wado and Shusui though, and just by knowing he still had them ready at his side was enough to calm him down a little.

"Now, please listen, you'll have time to ask questions afterwards if you have any. As I said, I'm able to send people back in time." He held up his hands again as Zoro was about to argue. "Will you please just listen?" He said exasperated, and this time Zoro managed to hold his tongue. "I know this is hard for you to believe, but you should know by now that nothing is impossible in this world, you've seen it countless of times before, have you not?" He fixed Zoro with a pointed stare before he continued. "-I'm offering to send you back in time so you can prevent this from happening again, I have seen what lies ahead if you chose not to do this, and I can only wish that it doesn't come to fruition. It is still your choice however, but you need to know what's happening and will happen." He looked expectantly at Zoro, who still didn't dare say anything. "Now that Mugiwara is gone the World Government will take total control, more so than they are now. There will be total destruction, and both the Yonko's and the Revolutionaries will fall. Sakazuki has already taken out over half of the revolutionaries, and is on his way to take on Shanks." He took a deep breath, as he thought of how to best tell the next part without giving away more information than necessary, "Your crew were supposed to get to Raftel and discover the true history and challenge the World Government, a feat that Roger and his crew were unable to do because of Roger's illness and untimely execution in Loguetown not long after. You were the next in line to continue their work, and finally do what is needed to regain the power WG has been holding onto for so long. The will of D must live on, and Dragon is not enough to shake this world anymore, Luffy's will was so much stronger than his father's and grandfather's, and it should have been him to stand at the front of this revolution. You understand now how important it is that you are not defeated again?"

Zoro nodded slowly, this was bullshit he knew that, but still a part of him was sure that this was going to happen now, why wouldn't it, hadn't they know this for a long time already? How bad the World Government were already, and now with Sakazuki in charge it was only getting worse. But Luffy? Was he really so important to avoid the total destruction of the world? Was it possible that only they could reach Raftel and learn the true history? Of course, they still had Robin, who is supposedly the only person left in the world who can read the poneglyphs, but how much does that matter now? And does this mean that the One Piece is just a piece of history and nothing else? No, he didn't want to think about that. Now, if indeed the old man was telling the truth about him going back in time, would he even be able to do anything to influence the outcome of the future? He doubted it to be honest. He's only one man after all, and he can't see what good would come from being the only one with this knowledge. "Would I be enough?" He mused out loud, not really aware that he'd spoken. "What do you mean, Roronoa?" the old man had sat watching him go through the motions, from disbelief, and then to puzzlement, he had expected a lot of questions, but this took him a bit by surprise.

Zoro shook his head when the old man spoke again, almost startled by his voice, he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that he'd almost forgotten that he was there "Hmm, what?"

"You asked if you would be enough, what did you mean by that?"

"Oh, I just thought that I alone won't really have that much of an influence on the future, no offence, but what good is there sending me back, if that's even possible, when the only thing I can do is give hints to the crew of what they should and shouldn't do? If anything you should send Luffy back, or even Nami, they can have a real influence on things at least." He didn't mean to sound self-deprecating or anything, it was just that he was sure his actions alone weren't enough to have an influence in the grand scheme of things.

"Ah yes, you are quite right in that I'm afraid, you alone would not be enough to change what has happened now. You misunderstood me however, when I said you, I did in fact mean the whole crew. You are all paramount to a change of this magnitude." He smiled a little when he saw how shocked Zoro looked at these words. "So are you finally able to accept my offer now?"

Zoro swallowed hard, he said they could all go back, but how? And to when? Were they going to have to start from beginning of their lives? Was that even possible? Too many questions were floating around in his head and he clutched the bridge of his nose, not even noticing that the binding on his body was gone. "So you mean… that all of us, including Luffy will go back, but how? I don't understand."

"Well the logistics are somewhat complicated as I am both a part of this world, and not a part of it. That is why we are currently in this time pocket, a place where I am able to talk to you freely without influencing the current events going on outside. You could say it's another dimension of sorts." At the confused look on Zoro's face he continued, "As of right now, your crew is locked in time, meaning that while you are here with me no time will pass on their end, this is also the reason your haki was unable to pick up their voices as you called it. This time pocket is how I and others I bring alongside me are able to pass through time, since it is not technically connected to the thread of time itself."

Zoro was more puzzled than ever now, he wasn't sure if he'd understood anything the old man had been saying, except for the crew being somehow frozen in time, "So the others are on some sort of pause until I go back outside this, um, time pocket?"

"You could say it like that, yes."

"Okay, so they're safe." He sighed with relief, _that's some good news at least_.

"As I told you they were, but no matter that now, you asked me how I would be able to bring all of you back, and I'm guessing you're also wondering at what time in the past you'll be going back, am I right?"

Zoro nodded, he was still unsure if he was able to believe any of this, but everything the man had said, had made sense somehow.

"Well, as to how, I'm going to try making it as easy to understand as possible. As I've said, this time pocket is the only way for me to be able to speak with you, and that goes for any time in history, I am not able to physically set foot on the ground in your time, and I've said that this pocket is the only way to travel between times, I could therefore bring you with me to any point in history if I so wished, but you too would not be able to set foot on the ground of that time. With my power however, you are able to meet with your former self and give your memories to him, so that your counterpart will know everything you know now just by touching their head, you will in other words merge with your former self. There is a catch to this however, you will have to convince your former self to agree to obtain all your current memories, or it will not happen. When this is done, regardless of your former self's decision, you will disappear from this time, making it as you've never existed in the first place. Time will have been rewound so to speak. With the other's I will take them with me back to their own former self and have them merge as well, if their counterpart agrees, that is." The old man looked at Zoro, who was still clutching the bridge of his nose, deep in thought, "Do you understand what I'm about to do now?"

Zoro looked at the table in front of himself, it sort of made sense, at least he thought he had caught the basic idea of it now, "I think so… we're going to use this time pocket thingy to travel back and visit some kind of former me where I have to convince myself to obtain the memories I have now?"

"Yes, good," the old man nodded, "-now for when you are going back, do you have a preferred time you would like to go to?"

Zoro wasn't so sure of this one, he knew that he didn't want to go through his childhood again, and from what he had gathered from the rest of the crew, he didn't want that for them either. Losing Luffy and then having to re-live their own fucked up childhoods would just be too cruel. _So when then_? "Um, I don't know, all I know is that I really don't want anyone of us to have to go through our childhoods again."

"I see, yes I would have to agree with that. Would you mind me suggesting that you all go back to the day before you met Mugiwara then, as that would ensure that not too many events are changed?"

Zoro chewed on the inside of his cheek, yes going back to the day before meeting Luffy was a good idea, that way neither would have to go too long waiting for him, especially Brook who was marooned on that ghost ship for over fifty years, he couldn't even begin to imagine how terrible that would be for him, if indeed the old man meant that everyone would come back before they met Luffy, and not on the day before he met him. "So just to clarify, you would send us back the day before each of us met Luffy, right?"

"Yes that's right, it does make my job a little harder, but it's certainly doable."

"Good," he sighed with relief, but then another thought struck him, "-so, if you don't mind me asking, what other risks are involved, other than us disappearing from this time I mean?" A deal such as this was too good to not have any risks, even he knew that, and even if he was still going to do it, it would be nice to know what they were up against later.

"Well, I'm not sure, I would imagine a lot of you will have to deal with Mugiwara's death, and Mugiwara will have to deal with dying himself, also there's everything that comes with changing the future, some changes can be for the better and some for the worse."

He hadn't thought of that, of course Luffy dying would be painful to deal with, but it would be even worse staying here and deal with the fact that he's gone, than being there with him alive, wouldn't it? Anyway, that was something they could get through together, they were nakama after all. Changes to the future however, that wasn't so easy to deal with when it would happen. Was it possible that they could even end up losing some of the others then? And just what constitutes as changes? "Luffy's death we can deal with, but what do you mean with the changes? What has to change for it to make a huge impact on the future?"

"What I meant was that everything you change will have some sort of consequence, no matter how small that change is."

That, Zoro agreed was a big risk to take, but if they just tried to keep on track with what they did the last time, at least until they met up with Brook, they would be fine, right? At least that way they wouldn't lose any of the crew that way at least. "Okay, we can deal with that."

"Good, so are you ready?"

"Hang on, there are just a few more things I need to know." He let his hands glide over Shusui and Sandai Kietsu, "-will my powers go with me? And what will you tell the others? Since I'm the one doing this, agreeing to this I mean, they must also do it, or they will disappear from this time too, right?" He wasn't so sure he wanted the others to know he was the reason for this, his own selfish wish to start over, to be able to make up for all the shit they did the first time, and to have Luffy back in the crew.

The old man sat in thought for a few seconds, "About your powers, I'm not sure, you will certainly have memories of them, but if you're able to use them, I honestly can't say, I guess that is something you will have to find out when you go back. As for the crew, I'm going to explain to them what we have talked about here, and inform them about what's going to happen, were there anything in particular you wanted me to say to them?"

Well knowledge of his powers would definitely help, if nothing else. "Not say to them exactly, but would it be possible to not tell the others I was the one who agreed to this? And could you also not tell Luffy, and Nami now that I think of it, that we're all back, I want to be the one who tells Luffy what happened if that's okay? And not telling them we're all back might make it easier to meet like we're supposed to." It would be hard trying to explain all this shit to Luffy, especially about what happened in the war with Sakazuki, but he'd made up his mind, he wanted to be the one to tell him, he needed to.

The old man looked at him thoughtfully, "I can do that, if that is what you want." He stood up and walked over to Zoro, "Now then, are you ready for this?"

* * *

 **AN** : _Thank you for reading, please follow/review to tell me what you think._

 _Most of you are probably wondering how my story is going to differ from all the other time-travel fic's out there, and to be honest, I have absolutely no clue. I also don't know i_ _f I'm ever going to finish this story, but I'll at least try. Also if my writing sucks at times it's because it's not my native language, and I struggle with writersblock a lot of the time, which means it might take some time between each time I actually write. I promise I'll work on it and get better though._


	2. Who are you?

**AN:** _This chapter has been revised (27.12.16) I've been working on making the chapters flow better for a while now, as I felt they used to be quite choppy and hard to read. I hope you guys will enjoy the story better now, and if you see/read some errors I've made, or have an idea on how I can improve it even more, please let me know._

 **Disclaimer:** _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 **Try and Try again**

 **Chapter 2 – Who are you?**

Zoro grumbled as he was currently tied up to a pole inside a Marine base; it had been a little over a week since he had been stuck there and he was already getting fed up with it. Thankfully his stomach had stopped rumbling yesterday, but he could still feel the hunger gnaw at his insides, and it annoyed him to no end, he needed to be able to get through this, he had to. His only way to occupy his thoughts however had been to remember his childhood and his long lost friend Kuina, and that was precisely what he was doing when suddenly everything went grey around him. As he cleared his vision and came back to reality he saw someone approaching him, but he refused to believe it was who he thought it was. It just couldn't be true. An old man and next to him an older… him? were walking towards him, the one looking like him was wearing a dark green coat that was closed around his waist by a red sash, he had three katanas on his hip, only one of them Zoro recognised, and he was wearing a green haramaki just like his own. And then there were of course his green hair that stood out at odd angels. But this person also had a vertical scar running along his torso as well as a scar over his left eye. _How is this possible_?

"Man I was pathetic." Future Zoro said mockingly as he stared down at his former self. He hadn't really thought about how he would react to seeing himself like this, but now that he was finally here, he saw what Mihawk had seen when he'd so carelessly challenged him to a duel so long ago. He was indeed pathetic, and naïve he added as an afterthought. How he had not been aware of the immense gap in power between himself and Mihawk back then was beyond him, _well that will change now at least_.

"What the fuck is going on?" present day Zoro snapped at them, he wasn't sure what was going on, and he didn't like it. Was he hallucinating? Was he really so starved that he'd started seeing things?

"Well, let's see, I'm you from about three years from now, and I've come back to convince you to obtain my memories," Future Zoro said smirking.

"Wha…" there was no doubt now, he was definitely hallucinating. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he just needed to breathe, calm down and when he would open his eyes he'd be back in the real world again. He let the breath fill his lungs and slowly empty, fill his lungs and… "Are you finished meditating now? Or should I give you some more time to delude yourself into believing that this isn't real?" Future Zoro said dryly, sarcasm dripping from his words like syrup.

His eyes shot open, glaring at his other self, "Fuck you!"

"Gladly, but that would be awkward for both of us, now will you please just listen?" Future Zoro knew that getting his former self to believe any this was going to be hard, but he pressed on, "I know it's hard for you to wrap your head around this..."

"Understatement of the fucking century," his former self muttered under his breath.

"…but trust me when I tell you that I need your help." He continued as he hadn't heard the other's muttering. "We're part of a pirate crew now, well in my time we are," he saw the shocked and disgusted face on his other self, but at least he'd kept his mouth shut, "-tomorrow will be the day that we meet our captain, Luffy, and set out on our journey to become the best. When we were sailing with him we were able to meet Mihawk twice, something we wouldn't have been able to hadn't it been for Luffy. Now, a few days ago we lost a battle and Luffy…" he swallowed thickly, "-Luffy, died." He saw the flames of the magma shoot out of Luffy's chest, and the smell of burnt rubber filled his nose.

"So what do you need me for?" Zoro shot in gruffly, he didn't like the look in his future self's eyes, they'd suddenly gone blank and distant. And what the hell was that bullshit of them being in a pirate crew all about? Like he would ever become a filthy pirate, even the idea of it was ludicrous. And meeting Mihawk twice? Hah, the only time he would meet that man was when he would defeat him.

"I'm sorry," the old man suddenly spoke up, and both Zoro's looked at him, having totally forgotten that he was there, "-but we need you to agree to accept Roronoa's memories, the death of Mugiwara weren't supposed to happen and we need your help to avoid it happening again so that history will unfold like it were supposed to."

Zoro looked from the old man and up at his older self, who were nodding slightly. This was just preposterous, they didn't seriously think that he would believe any of this did they? "So, let me get this straight, we became a pirate and lost our captain, and now you've come back to fix it?" he snorted, "Yeah sure, what's next? Are you going to tell me that we sailed on a flying ship, waged war with the marines and were ultimately on a quest to find the One Piece?" He laughed.

"Well," future Zoro scratched his neck, "-actually…"

"What? You're not serious?" He gaped at him, and then looked over at the old man, "-you're joking right?

"Not in the slightest, though you didn't really travel on a flying ship, The Going Merry only flew on the way up and down from Skypia and The Thousand Sunny only flew when you used the Coup De Burst," the man said earnestly. "Now, back to the matter at hand, do you accept to get all of Roronoa's memories?"

"Woah hang on! Why the fuck would I agree to something like that?" They were mad, utterly mad. Sure he didn't think they were a hallucination anymore, but that didn't mean he was about to go off and believe that they were from the fucking future.

Future Zoro sighed and looked at the old man, "See, I told you it wouldn't be that simple." He silently thanked the old man for jumping in though; it had made him snap back to reality again. He knew he needed to get stronger and he needed to get better at shutting those thoughts down, but that would have to wait until later, there were more pressing matters to deal with first. "Look, this is a shitty situation, and by all rationality shouldn't even be able to happen, but this world is so fucked up that even time travel is possible, okay?" He looked at his younger self again, exasperated that it was taking so long to convince him. "Just a few hours ago I didn't believe it either, I was on an island in the New World, that's the second half of Grand Line by the way, blowing off steam after we'd managed to shake off the marines tailing us, when this old man here," he shot his thumb at the old man, "-told me I could change the future if I wanted to." He shook his head, "I didn't believe him at all, but he proved me wrong and here we are. Now I need you to help us out, I don't want us to lose Luffy again, I want us to continue getting stronger so that Luffy can become Pirate King, and I can finally beat Mihawk, but that won't happen unless you agree to get my memories." He looked at his younger self, trying to emphasise just how important this was. "Seriously though, what can it hurt? If you don't believe in any of this you shouldn't mind it if I just put my hand on your head. If it's not real, nothing will happen. If it is, well I don't see why having my memories is such a bad thing."

Zoro had to admit that his other self had a point, what would it hurt? "So, if I agree to do this, you'll get out of here?" Had it really been that simple to make them leave, just agreeing to do this?

"Yeah we will," Future Zoro nodded, silently cursing himself for not thinking of that sooner, of course his younger self would do almost anything to get them to leave, it should have been obvious.

"Okay…" he sighed dejectedly, he knew that letting someone touch him when he was unarmed and defenceless was a bad idea, but he didn't really have a choice anymore, he was sick of hearing about his supposed future, and he wanted them to go away. "Okay, let's do it."

Future Zoro felt relief wash over him as he stepped over to his younger self and gingerly put his hand on his head. At first he didn't think it had worked and a flash of panic shot through him, but then he felt a lurch inside his stomach and before he knew it everything had gone black.

When he opened his eyes again he found that he was tied up to the pole, and he was starving. He could feel how his body was deteriorating because of the lack of sustenance. _I thought the old man said my younger self would only get my memories, but it feels more like my mind has come back to my old body._ "Oh well, guess there's no use thinking about it, what's done is done. Now then, only one thing to do, wait for Luffy."

* * *

Nami had just snuck on-board a cruise ship, it was a great chance to hoard in some beri. The people there would have their pockets full, and she reasoned that she needed it more than them anyway. She didn't really like stealing from common people, but if by chance the ship would be attacked by pirates, which was highly likely, she would have a great opportunity to cash in on some real valuables.

As she was sneaking around trying to figure out the layout of the ship, everything suddenly went grey around her. "What's going on?" She looked around; trying to figure out what had just happened, then she saw two people coming towards her, seemingly out of nowhere. One was a short old man, the other was… _no… that… that can't be…_ It was a woman, slightly taller than herself, with long wavy, orange hair, and her body had curves she could only dream of, but there was no mistake in who it was. How that was possible she didn't know, but she couldn't help her jaw from falling open, almost dropping to the floor.

"My, my, did I really look like that?" The woman said, shaking her head.

Nami tried to back away, but she was frozen in fear. "H-how is this possible?" She whispered, not managing to speak any higher, her vocal cords seemed to have stopped working.

"How? Well…" The woman looked at the old man next to her, "-would you care to enlighten her or should I?"

The man looked up at her, "I'll do it." He said with a nod, then turning back to Nami. "This is you future self, as you probably have figured out by now."

Nami nodded slowly, still trying to grasp the situation around her.

"-she is you three or so years from now." The man continued. "It so happens that you became part of a notorious pirate crew, but your captain, Mugiwara Luffy, was killed in battle…"

"WHAT? Hang on a minute!" Nami screamed, shaking her head, "-I don't know who you are, or what you want, but this is insane, if you're from the future," she pointed a shaking finger at her future self, "-then you should know how much I hate pirates!"

Future Nami smiled sadly, "Yeah I know, and we still do hate them, but with Luffy it's different," she sighed, "-we were happy."

Nami gaped at her, _happy? How the hell could they be happy?_ She hadn't been happy for over eight years. She shook her head again; no this wasn't real, "I… I don't believe you," she spluttered. This didn't make sense, it shouldn't even be possible, a future her? No, she didn't believe it. "What the hell is going on here?" her voice shook with suppressed fear, "-what do you want with me?" Her mind was racing, there was no way this was real, it had to be a trap, a way to lower her guard somehow, but why? She'd stayed under the radar, she'd been careful, hadn't she? _Shit, what am I gonna do?_

Future Nami looked at her and frowned, "I'm sorry," she said gently, "-I'd forgotten how lonely we used to be."

"I… I'm not lonely!" Nami said hotly.

"Listen okay, if you just calm down we'll explain everything, we're not here to hurt you, we just want to talk." She knew she should have tread carefully, and she cursed herself for letting the old man try talking to her first, she'd just thought he would have had more tact than that. If she'd had trouble believing him the first time, her younger self would definitely have an even harder time believing it. Now there wasn't any other way, she had planned on being gentle and ease her into it, but that wouldn't work now. Now there was only one way to make her younger self believe she was indeed from the future, and she hated herself for having to do it that way.

"Calm down? You just came out of nowhere and started saying crazy stuff like being from the future and that I supposedly joined a pirate crew, how the hell do you expect me to just calm down?"

"Fine, don't calm down then, but at least listen," Future Nami said exasperated, "-I'm sorry that I have to do this to make you believe that I'm from the future, but it's the only way that I'll convince you," She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "-when we were thirteen, and was out stealing beri to save the town, we got caught by a burly man with yellowing teeth and dark matted hair, he…" she swallowed hard, "-he pinned us against a wall and…"

Nami visibly paled, _how, how does she know that?_

"He ran his hand down our…"

"Stop!" she suddenly cried out, she had covered her ears and her eyes were tightly shut, "I… I don't know how you know that, but stop!" she croaked.

Future Nami saw the anguished look on her face, but she pressed on, "-when we were fifteen we messed up again, this time we got strapped to a table…"

"Okay, okay! Please, I don't need to hear any more!" Nami whimpered. She pressed a shaking hand to her forehead and covered her eyes, "What do you want from me?" she pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper.

The old man looked up at Future Nami, aghast, "Was that really necessary?"

"It was the only way she would be able to believe me," she said sadly, "-it's something we've never told anyone." Even now it was hard to think about it, those days were the hardest she'd ever gone through, but after she'd met Luffy they had faded to the back of her mind and she'd been able to be truly happy again, she wanted that same feeling again now, especially after what had just happened. "I know it was cruel of me to bring it up, but I have to make you understand how important it is for me to make you believe what I'm about to tell you," she sighed. "When we first met Luffy we didn't like him, we thought he was just as every other pirate we'd met, but he was different, he got rid of Arlong for us." Her younger self shot her head up, shock evident on her face, "It's impossible for you to imagine, I know, but he saved us, and for our entire journey he's saved countless of others too." Flashes from their recent fight swam into view in her mind and she suppressed a shudder, "-but in our last battle," she swallowed thickly, "-he lost… we lost." Her voice cracked, and she had to take a deep breath to try and calm herself down again, "I need to help him now, which is why I'm here, I need your help to do it." She looked at her younger self pleadingly, "I need you to agree to obtain my memories so that we don't lose again, I can't stand the idea of him being," she tried to stifle a sob as she choked on the last words "-dead." She could feel her eyes sting with unshed tears, _damn it, I can't break down now!_

Nami was scrambling for something to say, but she didn't know what. What had happened in the future to make herself react that way? It was almost unbearable to watch as her older self tried to hold it together, she wanted to help, she really did, but… "What do I have to do, if I agree I mean?" she said in a small voice. She was afraid, what would happen if she got her memories? She seemed to be in so much pain, would she be that too? Would it be worth it?

"You don't have to do anything except say that you agree," the old man said calmly. Nami thought it over, she still didn't want to believe any of this, but how couldn't she, this woman, her supposed future self, knew stuff about her that she'd never told anybody. "Will it hurt?" she asked timidly.

"I don't think so, no. It's more like falling asleep and waking up with new memories." The old man looked at her expectantly now, "-now do you agree?"

Nami nodded, more to herself than to them, she couldn't deny that she was scared, but she'd made up her mind, "Yeah… yeah let's do it." The old man turned to the Future Nami then, who was staring up at the roof blinking away tears, "Nami, it is time, please do as I instructed earlier."

Future Nami nodded, she lowered her head again and looked at her younger self, "I'm so sorry, but you'll understand soon enough," she lifted up a trembling hand and placed it on her younger self's head. It didn't take long before she felt a rough lurch inside her stomach and everything went black.

She was crouched on the floor when she opened her eyes, tears were streaming down her face and she was sobbing quietly. It wasn't like she had pictured it, she was back in her old body, or at least it felt that way. She wasn't complaining though, but her chest hurt and she couldn't stop the continuing stream of tears that ran from her eyes. She needed a place to hide, and a place to think.

* * *

Luffy was a day away from leaving Dawn Island and he was currently in the forest between the Grey Terminal and Mt. Corvo, training on his basic gomu-gomu techniques. Suddenly however, everything went grey around him. "Wha…?" He quickly looked around himself, trying to figure out what had just happened, when he spotted two people walking towards him from in-between the trees. There was an old man followed by a younger one wearing blue shorts, an open red cardigan and a strawhat on his head. His eyes bulged out when he recognised the young man, it was himself, he was sure of it. But how was that possible? What was he doing here?

Future Luffy beamed at him, "Wow, it's weird seeing myself like this."

Luffy couldn't believe it, was this really himself? He certainly looked like him, but he also looked older, and he had a huge scar on his chest, "Wha… who are you?"

"I'm you of course," he was still beaming; he couldn't believe he was back here again, it was so nostalgic, and he really wanted to see Dadan and the rest of the gang, too, now. "Well, I'm you from about three years from now actually," he said as he took in the sight around him, he wished it didn't have to be so grey around them; he really wanted to see the colours of everything.

"How coooool!" Luffy's eyes had turned into stars. Then something seemed to click in his mind. "Wait? You're from the future? Does that mean I became the Pirate King?" He beamed too, he could only think of one reason his future self would come back and talk to him, and that was if he'd made it. Did the One Piece allow him to visit his earlier self then? That would be sooo cool!

Future Luffy scratched his neck, his smile faltering, "Ah, not exactly…" He was thinking of how to handle this. The old man had said something about it not being his time to die yet and then something about starting again, also all the stuff about changing the future if you changed anything in the present. He didn't really understand all of it, but he reckoned he would later. He looked over at the old man, hoping he could explain things better than he could at the moment.

The old man sighed. "No Luffy, you didn't become the Pirate King this time, you were unfortunately killed during your last battle, which shouldn't even have happened in the first place. I'm here on the behalf of a friend of yours, to help you so it doesn't happen again. That is the reason your future self his here too, we need you to accept to get all his memories."

"Eeeh?" Luffy looked between the old man, his future self, and back again, "-accept his memories? Why?"

"I just told you, we're here to help you so that you don't die in the future again." The old man shook his head; this crew was going to be the death of him.

Luffy looked at his future self more clearly now, he was definitely stronger and more powerful, but he also had that huge scar on his chest, and his eyes seemed more distant, and older he surmised, like he'd lived a century already. He also looked tired, like he hadn't slept in days. _Did I really die?_

Future Luffy suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and he gritted his teeth, the old man had warned him that it might happen, but he hadn't thought it would be so bad. It was the pain from the wounds he'd gotten during the battle, and pain from the killing blow, the old man had said. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, hoping it would soothe his lungs that had suddenly felt like they had been ripped from his body, "Are you okay Mugiwara?" The old man asked him gently, and he took another few deep breaths before he nodded, the pain had started to subside to a dull ache now and he could breathe freely again. "Yeah, I'm… I'm fine."

"What's happening?" Luffy cried out in shock, something was wrong with his future self, was he hurt? But he didn't look hurt at all, but… he had died… "Oh…" realisation suddenly hit him, of course he was hurt, but why couldn't he see any wounds? There should have been wounds, right?

"I'm afraid we need to get this over with quicker than I thought Mugiwara, my grip is faltering." The old man was looking worried, and one of his fists was clenched at his side.

"Yosh," Future Luffy turned to his younger self again, "-it's really simple, okay? I really don't want to be dead, and you don't want to die before becoming the Pirate King, right?

Luffy was thoroughly confused now, he had no idea what had just happened, "Uuh… I guess…" It was like a switch had happened within his older self and he had suddenly become all business-like, _what the hell happened in the future?_

"Good," Future Luffy nodded, "-now, all you have to do is say that you accept to get my memories, and I'll be able to touch your head and give them to you." He looked at the confused and worried face on his younger self, "-don't worry you'll understand everything once you get them."

Luffy slowly nodded, "Okay, I… I accept." He didn't know what else to do, everything was suddenly happening so fast he couldn't keep up.

Future Luffy sighed with relief, and before his younger self could do anything else he'd stepped in front of him and laid a hand on his head, he barely felt the lurch in his stomach when it happened, the pain in his chest had become excruciating again and then when he thought he couldn't take it anymore, everything had gone black.

When he opened his eyes he lay panting on the ground, clutching at his bare chest, which was unscarred and clean. It didn't feel at all like he'd thought it would be, he wasn't his younger self at all, he was himself like he had been in the New World, only… he was in his old body. Then a pain worse than anything he'd felt before shot through his chest, and his eyes swam with tears as he fought not to scream, then came the pain of the memories, and it felt like his head was about to split open, it tore a scream from his lungs that he was unable to hold back. He had lost, and he didn't even know if his crew had survived. He had failed them, just like he had failed Ace. He felt the tears spill down his cheeks as he screamed again, he was crying, and he couldn't help it. This was even more painful than when he had realised that Ace was truly dead.

* * *

 **AN** : _Thanks again for reading, please follow/fav, and if you want to please review and tell me what you think.  
I'm so sorry that it's such a dark chapter, it really wasn't supposed to be like that at all… but I'm terrible at humour and for some reason dark and depressing themes come naturally for me. I hope you're all alright after this, I'll try to not make the other chapters so depressing and dark, but I won't promise anything. _


	3. Old Powers in New Bodies

**AN:** _This chapter has been r_ _evised (27.12.16) I've never really liked this chapter, but I feel it's a lot better than it used to be now. I've changed some bits of it to make it fit the darker theme I'm going for, and to help make it deviate from the canon story of One Piece a bit more than it has been up till now, at least emotionally for the characters, if not as much story wise._

 _If you have any ideas on how to make this chapter better, I'd love to hear your thoughts, I'm always looking for ways to make my story better._

 **Disclaimer:** _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 _Hope you like it :)_

 **Try and Try again**

 **Chapter 3 - Old Powers in New Bodies**

Zoro went through his memories, trying to focus solely on the ones from before they had entered Grand Line, some of them were a little hazy, like what exactly had gone down when they were in that town with Buggy after they left here, and also everything that had happened at Nami's hometown too. He was also having problems remembering when stuff had happened, for example had they gone to the island with that weird guy in that chest before or after they'd met Usopp? He really wasn't sure, he hoped Luffy or at least Nami knew. The old man hadn't said anything about changing conversations, so he reckoned that if all the major things happened as they should at least it wouldn't be that big of a problem. Then he remembered what had asked the old man, "Will my powers go with me?" The old man hadn't known if they would, so that just left trying it out. He figured that starting with haki would be his best option now, seeing as that bastard had taken his katana when he had been brought here.

He decided that observation haki would probably be the best to start with, as that shouldn't be too problematic, and would put the least amount of strain on his body right now. So he closed his eyes and focused on the world around him, he could hear the voices of all the people in the town, but it was weak. _Good, so I haven't lost it completely_ , he figured he just needed to train and he would get it back to New World standard soon enough. _Alright I still have some observation haki, now let's see if I still have armament haki._ He figured he should focus on coating his hands, the most important part of his body when he was fighting. So still with his eyes closed he focused all his attention on his left arm, and even though he was ambidextrous, he'd always favoured his left hand in most situations, so that's what he wanted to check first. He tried to steady his breathing and focus solely on centring his willpower in his palm, it took a lot of effort but slowly he managed to coat it. _Well shit, that wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped it would be._ He let the armament fade and noticed he was panting slightly; the exertion had also made him even hungrier than before. _Guess I better stop doing that till I get together with Luffy then_.

On the thought of Luffy, the memories from the fight hit him like a punch in the stomach, he had tried to block them out by focusing on other things, but it hadn't been enough. He was back on the battle field again, trying to reach Luffy to help him fight Sakazuki, but the endless swarm of marines kept holding him back, he wanted to scream out to Luffy to not be so reckless, but it was in vain. They were all hurt after the fight they'd just had, and none of them were even close to their usual strength. Even Luffy in his rage wasn't up to par, and then Sakazuki had seen the opening he had been waiting for. Zoro knew what was coming, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He saw the Fleet Admiral thrust his magma fist through Luffy's chest, burning a hole through it, and Luffy had fallen to the ground and lain there motionless, his eyes wide, but all feeling was gone from them. The smile he remembered Luffy had worn on that day in Loguetown, when they were sure he was going to be beheaded, was not there. And for some reason that was the thing that made everything feel so wrong, like Luffy should have been smiling when he met his end. Then the smell of burnt rubber assaulted his senses, and he felt bile rise in his throat. When he finally managed to rip himself out of the flashback and into the real world again, he was sweating and shaking, and was on the brink of passing out from exhaustion. He hated himself for letting his guard down, he needed to bury those memories, and fast, or he'd never be able to fight properly again.

* * *

Nami had found a hiding place inside one of the empty cabins; she had to think this through. The old man had clearly said that anything that was changed in the past would alter the future, but she wasn't sure how far that stretched. Did that mean that even the slightest thing could alter the future, such as saying something different this time around? Or was it more of changing actions that would cause a different outcome? She sure didn't remember every little detail they had done during their travel from East Blue and during the Grand Line, especially Paradise. Also she didn't know if she was the only one to be sent back, did any of the others get sent back, too? There were just too many questions, why hadn't she asked the old man about any of this when she had the chance?

He had appeared out of nowhere after she'd seen Zoro and Sanji storm off the ship merely seconds after they'd reached the island. She hadn't had the willpower to shout after them, or scold them for leaving the rest of them behind right away. She knew why they had run off; it was their way of dealing with it, just like the rest of them had theirs. She'd retreated to the girls room, the only place she knew she would be able to be left alone, or so she'd thought anyway. "I'm sorry miss…" he had said in a gentle tone, apparently not wanting to frighten her, but as her senses had been on high alert, she'd nearly jumped a feet in the air, while instinctively clutching her clima-tact ready to fight off anyone who approached her.

Holding her clima-tact in front of herself she'd screamed at him, wanting to know who he was and why he was there, and how the hell he had managed to get into her room, and why everything had suddenly gone grey around her, something she hadn't immediately noticed as she already saw the world in diffused colours after what had just happened. He'd calmly explained that he was there to send her back in time, so that she could help stop this happening again, she had of course not believed a word he'd said, but he'd told her about his ability and what he could do, and what was about to happen in the world now that Luffy had died. She couldn't deny the fact that what he said had made sense, and in her haze of grief she'd been willing to accept anything to make Luffy come back. He'd then explained to her what he was about to do, her role in it, and about the importance of how anything that was changed would have an impact on their new future. And so without even thinking of the consequences and the possibility that he could be lying to her, she'd accepted it.

It wasn't until now that she was alone and trying to make sense of it all that she was left with all these questions, _well, it's too late for thinking about that now though._ She shook her head, she had to make a plan on what to do from here, she just needed to go on as she was the only one to remember, at least until she knew about the others. She didn't dare try to do anything that could change everything yet, it was too risky right now, there was just too much that could go wrong.

She'd found some paper in the cabin and started on making a list of the things they'd been through, trying to focus on East Blue, but every memory of Luffy made her remember how Sanji had found her on the battle field and told her that Luffy had been defeated and they had had to run. She'd been so exhausted then, she hadn't really understood what he had meant by it, and Sanji had lifted her up and carried her as he ran towards Sunny. It wasn't until they had reached that remote island far away that she had finally realized what Sanji had meant. Luffy had… died, and they hadn't been able to bring his body back to the ship because of Sakazuki and the rest of the marines. As the memories filled her mind she'd curled up on the bed in the corner. She hugged her knees, like she had done so often when she was younger, and let her grief wrack through her body as an endless stream of tears ran down her face, she didn't even have the strength to wipe them away. She couldn't help it, she felt so useless and weak that her mind couldn't take it anymore. Why had she let herself be brought back to the past, where she had to remember all that had happened so clearly? But she knew why, it was ten times better to be here, where Luffy was still alive, than stay there and live without him.

* * *

Luffy had tried not to think too hard on what had happened to him in the future, but it had been difficult. The pain from the fight, especially from his deathblow, constantly shot through his body and he had had to grit his teeth as to not shout out in pain when it happened. He could still feel the scars from the fight, and even if they weren't visible, he knew they would serve as a reminder of what he had almost lost. He had to admit though, a small part of him was glad it had happened; now he could do better than last time. He thought however on his nakama that was left in the future, were they still there? Or did they disappear when he came back to the past? Did they too, die in that fight? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to think about that either; he would set out and find them all over again like he did the first time.

The old man's voice rang in his head then, "If you change anything in the past, the whole future will be altered." He didn't know the extent on what that meant, but he understood that he had to do everything like he had done the last time in order to get his crew. Even if that meant Nami would run away from them at the Baratie, and Robin would betray them in Water 7 again. He couldn't risk losing anyone.

Then a thought struck him, _if I am from the future then that should mean I still have my powers, right?_ He flexed his muscles and stretched his torso to check if it would hurt to move, when it didn't, he sighed in relief, _good, now then, what do I start with, Haki or the gears?_

Seeing as the flashes of excruciating pain had subsided considerably and didn't hit him as often as it did in the beginning, he figured the gears would be nice to know if he could do, so he started with that. He took his normal stance, he knew that gear second was dangerous to his body if he did it like he had done in the beginning, but if he were able to control it to certain parts of his body he would stand a much better chance this time around. He started pumping his legs and right away he felt his blood starting to pump faster through his system, soon enough his whole body had turned a faded pink and was steaming. _Damn, still can't control it properly, but at least I can do it._ He couldn't hold it for too long though as he felt his energy draining fast. _Fuck, it's just as bad as when I did it the first time on Enis Lobby._ He would just have to train harder so he could manage it better this time around. He would hold off gear third for now as he wasn't sure his body would be able to handle it. And there was definitely no way he was using gear fourth any time soon. Not that he would need it now anyway. When his body's blood flow was back to normal his chest exploded in pain and he fell to his knees, "Fuck!" He had kind of expected it to be painful afterwards, but this was agony. He tried to only focus on breathing, and even though he knew it would eventually subside, his whole world was just white hot pain. After what felt like hours he found himself lying on the ground, clutching his chest again. _Well the gears are out of the question now_. "Fuck!" He screamed as he pounded his fist against the ground, "How the fuck am I going to become the Pirate King like this, if I can't even do my gears!"

As he continued to pound his fist into the ground, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath him and a hole opened up where he'd just slammed his fist. He looked at the hole in the ground and then at his hand in shock, it was black, he had coated his hand in armament without realising it. He hadn't even meant to use haki, it had just happened. He felt panic rise within him, he'd lost control and now he didn't know if it would hurt again when he let it go. He took a deep breath and steeled himself for the pain to come, and then he gingerly let the armament fade. He sat on the ground, still looking at his hand which had gone back to normal, to his surprise nothing had happened. He'd only felt his energy drain, but there was no pain at all. He let out a sigh of relief, so maybe he could still use his haki.

He got up from the ground, he was still unsure if he really could use it though, maybe it had been a fluke? Maybe it was only because he'd lost control it didn't hurt? He took another deep breath; he had to try again. He closed his eyes and focused all his willpower on coating his arm again, he felt the surge of power fill his arm and harden it, just like it had used to do. Now he had a dilemma, did he dare hitting something with it or not? If it did hurt afterwards, would the pain be worse if he hit something as opposed to just letting it fade? He weighed his options, and finally nodded to himself; if it would hurt afterwards regardless of what he did, it wouldn't matter how bad the pain was, it would still hurt. When he opened his eyes he steeled himself and started looking for something to hit, he landed on a nearby tree, it would have to do. He opted for a regular pistol shot, Red Hawk would probably be too much right now. As he thrust his arm back, he felt a prickle of pain in his chest, but it wasn't more than a needle jab, and it faded as quickly as it had come, _good!_ "Gomu Gomu No Pistol!" He shot his arm forward and it connected with the tree perfectly and shot right through it, it kept going through three more trees before stopping at the trunk of the forth however, _not exactly what I planned, but this is good, too._ When he snapped his fist back and let his armament fade, he readied himself for the pain to come, but he only felt the same tiny prickle in his chest, and again it faded as quickly as it came. _Finally something I can do!_

 _Alright then, let's try observation haki now_. He sat down on the ground again and went into meditation mode, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing; he listened and focused on hearing the voices of everything around him, it had dropped considerably in range, but he hadn't expected anything else. He would just start practising it again; it shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get it back to his New World range really. As he continued to focus on everything around him he had no problem locating and identifying the strength of the animals in the forest around him, and he could clearly hear the voices of everyone on Mt. Corvo. He longed to see them all again, but he knew that he needed to test out his strength and find out what he was able to do that didn't make him collapse in pain again.

He also wanted to try his Conqueror's haki, but he didn't want to try it on the weaker animals around him, even though most of the bigger animals in the forest were monsters, it just wouldn't be fair on them. _Maybe I'll try it on that sea king tomorrow when I leave._

He continued to test out his skills long into the night, and he found that most of his basic techniques and some of his new ones still worked, but a few times he got overambitious and ended up collapsing in pain, when it happened for the fourth time he collapsed in exhaustion and finally fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Hey guys, come on! I'm going now, aren't you going to see me off?" The day had finally come, and by some miracle he'd woken up a little after dawn just mere hours before he was going to leave the island. He was finally going to set out and find his crew all over again, he almost couldn't wait. He had wanted Dadan and the rest of the mountain bandits to come see him off. He knew that they couldn't though, because he knew they weren't allowed into the town.

When he had poked his head in to the main building, Dadan had been sitting with her back to him. _She's going to start crying again,_ he was sure of it, but he had to do this.

Dadan gave him the same lame excuse as last time, but he didn't mind it at all, and because he liked complaining like a little kid, that's what he decided to do. Then he couldn't hold back any more, and with a huge smile on his face he shouted, "Oh… well then guys. Thanks for everything!" Dadan who was still trying to give him the cold shoulder, grumbled something about him being a little brat and that he should just get out of there already. He couldn't help himself then and just laughed at it, it was so good to see them again, he really wished he could have stayed just a little bit longer, but his nakama was waiting for him and he longed to meet them again, he needed to see them again, more so than anyone else. He had turned to leave and was just about to run down to Foosha when a sudden thought struck him, and he turned back to the open door with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, "oh, right! Dadan! I hate mountain bandits, but I like you guys!" Then he finally ran off, laughing out of pure joy as Dadan was finally crying hysterically.

Down in Foosha Village the town was there to see him off, just like last time. He had wanted to run up to Makino and hug her; it had been so long since he'd seen her. Well not that long if you only counted the years of this time, but to Luffy it felt like a life time ago. Still he held himself back, he didn't want to make anyone suspicious of what was going on so he did what he did last time. As he was waving his goodbyes to the town however, he heard the voice or the mountain bandits and Dadan in the town, _so they came to see me off_ _after all_. Grinning like a maniac he turned around in his boat and yelled to the sky, only this time he yelled both Ace and Sabo's name, knowing they were still alive and well. 'Watch me rise to the top! I'll definitely meet you there, I promise!' He knew that this time he wouldn't lose any of them.

As he was rowing out towards the open sea ahead he felt it coming. Finally he would be able to test the strength of his Conqueror's haki, and also see if it would hurt him or not. He was slightly disappointed that it wasn't even close to the strength of some of the sea kings they had met travelling the Grand Line though, but he guessed it wasn't surprising; this was the weakest sea after all.

As it was about to come up behind his boat, he stood up and readied himself. The large eel monster had taken Shanks' arm all those years ago; it was going to pay for that today. Last time he had used a normal gomu-gomu no pistol attack on him, knocking the monster out, if his haki didn't work he would do that again, maybe even coat it in armament just to see how far he could shoot him.

When the monster finally broke the surface of the water, charging at him; Luffy heard the collective shouts of the townspeople. He moved his hand over his hat so it was shielding his eyes, before he raised his head and looked straight at the monster. He sent out a burst of Conqueror's haki and the monsters eyes rolled back in his head and it was knocked out. He sighed with relief when he didn't feel anything afterwards, _good it doesn't hurt, but_ _I can't control it like I used to, it'll be enough for now though_. He threw his fists in the air and took a deep breath, "I'm gonna be THE PIRATE KING!"

* * *

 **AN:** _Thank you for reading please fav/follow, and if you like please leave a review. Know that even if I don't reply to you, know that I read every one of them, and cherish them more than anything. You guys encourage me to continue writing :)_


	4. Remembering the Weaklings of the Past

_**AN:**_ _This chapter has been revised (27.12.16). I've updated some of the story to make it flow a little better, I'm still not completely satisfied with it though, but I feel like it's better than it used to be at least. The chapters from here on out will get longer though, just so you're warned._

 _[If you have suggestions for how I can make the chapter/story better please send me a PM or write it in the reviews, every little thing helps.]_

 _Do note that there will also probably be some slight ooc'ness. I'm really trying to keep all of them in character, but as there's going to be a lot of inner monologues and thoughts flying around I can't guarantee that they will be completely like they used to be. I'm also trying to not make them totally op in the beginning, seeing as they still have their old bodies and need to train in order to get to the level they used to be._

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 _Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited the story :D You guy's make it worthwhile to continue writing the story._

 **Try and Try again**

 **Chapter 4 – Remembering the Weaklings of the Past**

Luffy sat in his little dinghy, he hadn't really had time to think back, or forward, errr whatever, on his memories and what happened when he were sailing the East Blue the first time, too caught up in trying to test out his skills all night. He remembered most of the major things, such as getting Coby from that pirate ship, getting Zoro to join him in that marine base and so forth, but there were a lot of things that were hazy because he hadn't bothered remembering it the first time. Now that he was thinking of that time again he wondered if it had mattered to remember all of it. The old man had said that anything he changed would make a difference in the future, but could it really have that big of an impact if he forgot some stuff in the process?

He knew he wanted his crew to be stronger this time, so they would have to start training more than they had done the first time, not that they had actually done any training then, except for Zoro that is. He wanted them to be able to sail through Paradise with ease this time around, but should he let Kuma blast them away and let them train for two years this time around as well? He knew both him and the rest of the crew would probably need it, for him it would be to get his body up to par with his New World standard, not that he needed the Haki training with Rayleigh this time around though. But there were also the whole ordeal with Ace. He wanted to save his brother this time around, now that he knew Sabo was alright and working with the Revolutionaries. He also wanted Ace to know that. Even though it had been awesome when Sabo had gotten Ace's Mera-Mera fruit at Dressrosa, it hadn't felt right. Fire-Fist Sabo just didn't have the same ring to it as with Ace.

His head was starting to hurt with all the thinking, but he couldn't stop, he had to figure out what to do in this time around, he couldn't just stand by and let history completely repeat itself. Then he felt his dinghy lurch to the side, _oh that's true, I completely forgot about this happening_. He looked over the side of rim and saw that he was being dragged into a whirlpool. _What did I do last time this happened?_ He eyed the barrel he had brought with him and remembered, quickly he ate all food he'd stashed in it, and jumped into the barrel while sealing the lid. _I don't remember this being so uncomfortable the last time, oh well, I'll just have to ride it out and hope I'll land near that ship again I guess._

* * *

The trip in the whirlpool had left him dizzy, but he hadn't fallen asleep like last time thankfully, though that was mostly due to him occasionally having flashes of pain shooting through his chest. The pain had become less frequent and lasted for a shorter amount of time now though, and he was eternally grateful for that. If it kept decreasing as fast as it was now, he'd probably be able to start training more of his moves soon. Or at least, he hoped so. After a while, when the spinning had completely stopped, he took in his surroundings with his observation haki, and even if it weren't as good as it had been in the future he could still make out Nami's voice. Man he couldn't wait to see her again. But then he remembered how she had been during that time, and he knew he couldn't approach her now. He would have to wait until they got to that town Red-Nose was in to do that.

Suddenly he felt the barrel hit something; _I'm probably right next to that ship again, good._ As he listened he could hear some of the sailors talking up ahead, they had definitely spotted the barrel now. It didn't take them long to throw something in the water at it then, and when something finally made contact with it, he felt the barrel leave the water as it was being hoisted up in air. _Huh, so this is how I got on the ship_. Still being held up by the sailors he debated with himself when he should make his entrance, just as he was wracking his brain for when he'd done it the last time, his haki, which was constantly working in his subconscious, picked up on a voice he hadn't heard since Marineford. _Coby! I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer then._ Then something clicked in his mind, he hadn't been aware of his haki during Marineford, he had unlocked it then, but he hadn't been aware of it. But if he could remember Coby's voice, then he must have somehow still learned everybody else's voices subconsciously, too. If that were true, it could become a useful tool later.

When someone suddenly started shouting about pirates overhead, _probably from the crow's nest,_ Luffy reckoned from where the sound was coming from, the ones who had picked the barrel up dropped it unceremoniously on the deck. Then when the first round of cannon fire started the waves created from it rocked the ship so much that he started rolling over deck. It kept rolling down some stairs and further into the ship before it stopped, having crashed into a wall. _Shishishi, that was fun, good thing I was awake for that this time._ He observed what was going on, on the ship, but he kept a close eye on Nami. She had gone off in the direction he reckoned the pirate ship was. He wanted to laugh out loud when he realized she was probably going to rob them blind, just like she always did.

Soon, like he knew it would happen, Coby came into the room. "H-hello? Looks like nobody's here. Thank god."

Luffy wanted to punch him so bad for being such a scaredy cat, if only he knew how strong he would get in just a few short years. If everything played out like it was supposed to that is.

"Oh that's a really big barrel…" Luffy figured Coby had probably spotted the barrel he was in now.

He listened to Coby struggle to roll the barrel; he wasn't really bothered about the spinning, though the cramped space did make it rather uncomfortable. He would wait for his cue however, and then he would break through the barrel, now he just had to remember what he had said the last time he did it.

"Hey cabin boy! You weren't thinking of running and hiding down here now, were you?" _That would be Alvida's lackeys,_ Luffy mused, _weaklings._

"N-no I wasn't! I found this barrel, a-and I was going to take it up on deck." Coby stuttered.

"Then we'll help lighten the load for you."

"N-no don't! If A-Alvida-sama finds out w-we'll be killed!"

 _Damn Coby, come on! I know you're weak, but now you're just being pathetic._ If Luffy hadn't wanted to break out of the barrel before, he definitely had the urge to do it now.

"If you just keep that little mouth of yours shut, she won't find out now, would she?"

"Y-yes, you have a point there."

Luffy felt the barrel shifting, thankfully in the right direction, so he didn't end up upside down and would have to kick the barrel open, which would be something Sanji would have done. Using his haki, he focused on the guy who was about to break it open, he tried to pinpoint the exact moment he needed to break out, just about... Now!

CRASH! "Man that was a good nap!" He had used as little force as he could, so the guy's neck wouldn't break when he hit him, but still he was stronger now than when he first set out, even if it didn't come close to his strength in the New World, so instead of just knocking the guy out he'd been sent flying into the wall before crashing to the floor.

"Huh, what's this?" He said feigning ignorance at what he had just done. "Who are you guys?"

Alvida's lackeys, all forgetting their initial shock screamed at him. But Luffy wasn't interested, he looked at the guy he'd just punched, "That guy will catch a cold if he sleeps on the floor." He said as he started to get out of the barrel, it was time to make friends with Coby again.

Just as he was about to turn around to Coby, a sabre was drawn and pointed at his face. _Seriously these guys are total idiots._ They were spewing something about not screwing around, but he could really care less. Ignoring them he finally turned to Coby, he had to repress the urge to call him by his name, and even smile at him. "Man I'm hungry, do you know if there's any food here?" Coby seemed too scared to even do anything at the moment, and the guys behind him had finally worked up enough of a fury to be ready to attack him.

He slowly turned towards them; he knew they wouldn't be able to hurt him, even without using armament, so he let them attack. Their sabres were way to dull and chipped at the blade to do any damage at all, why they'd even use them was beyond him. He felt them connect with his head and then break on impact, not even his strawhat had been damaged by it, _hmm I wonder what would have happened if I actually used haki there._ The two remaining lackeys looked like they were close to losing control over their bowels, they were even scared enough to have fallen down on the floor. "What did you go and do that for?" He looked at them feigning ignorance again; he realized he'd have to do that a lot the coming weeks, and possibly months if he was in fact the only one back.

One of them had finally managed to find his voice again, "Wh-Who the hell are you?" he practically screamed at him.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy, nice to meet you!" He put on his most charismatic grin, they had no idea what would be in store for them in a couple of minutes. He didn't have to wait long before they bolted out of the room, probably going to Alvida to tell her about him, which suited him just fine.

Behind him Coby was just about regaining his composure from the floor, "Wha-what just happened?" Then something seemed to dawn on him. He came up behind Luffy his whole body tense and afraid, "You have to run, they're going to come back and then you'll definitely get killed!" He screeched, probably trying to whisper, but failing hard.

Luffy wanted to say that there was nothing Alvida could throw at him that he wouldn't be able to throw back at her a tenfold, but they hadn't been acquainted yet, and also he was starting to feel a little peckish after he ate all of his food earlier that day. "I don't really care, I'm still hungry." He laughed. Also getting to see Coby's face was actually kind of hilarious.

"How can you even think of food now? This ship is being raided by pirates, and they'll come here any minute trying to kill you!" While Coby was ranting Luffy tried locating where the storage room was, he knew he had found it last time using his nose, so he tried that again. Coby had tried holding him back, but he hardly noticed. It didn't take long before he opened a door into what seemed like a personal heaven. Not wanting to delay the inevitable he quickly ran over to the crate with apples and began munching them down. Man he couldn't wait for Sanji's food.

"I-I'm Coby. You're Luffy-san, right? That was amazing what you did back there, um… how did you do it?" Coby was coming away from the door, realizing that they would probably be safe there. Luffy knew better though, but he had to get Coby to announce his dream first.

He turned around, still munching on an apple, "These are good, do you want some?" Coby had finally come down to where he was, "Uh, no thank you."

"Hmm, fine by me. By the way, is this a pirate ship?" Even though he already knew the answer to that, he knew that without this conversation Coby would never realize his dream, so he would have to try his best to follow it like the first time he did it.

While he had been thinking, Coby had gone into explaining that this was not a pirate ship, but a cruise ship. Then, "-raided by Alvida-Sama." was all Luffy heard when he focused on the world around him again. "Hmm, oh well. Not that it matters any way. You know if there are any rowboats on this ship?"

"A-ah well, there should be, but…"

"My ship got sucked into the whirlpool." He laughed a little, it sounded so much cooler than it had actually been.

"What? That giant whirlpool? You should be dead."

Turning around towards Coby he couldn't help but laugh even more. "Yeah, it was damn surprising to me too." Coby was finally starting to relax around him; that was good. Now he could finally get down to business. "Are you a nakama of the pirate crew then?" He watched as Coby curled in on himself, he knew this was hard for him, having heard the story before, but still, it pissed him off that Alvida practically had him on his crew like a slave. After Coby was finished telling him his story again, and even though he felt bad for the kid, this had to go in a certain way or things wouldn't happen like they were supposed to. "You're an idiot." He said it with some mirth in his voice, but he couldn't manage to take it all the way. Not after seeing what he had seen on Sabaody. He watched as Coby cowered more from that and he felt his disgust towards Alvida rise even more.

"You could just run away though," and there it was: Coby's famous blabbering of "Impossible, impossible…" Now he could actually smile genuinely again. "Oh, so you're a coward with no balls, too? I don't like you" he laughed. Coby started crying earnestly at that, and even though he felt bad about what he was going through, he could smile because of the way he was reacting to the smallest things. This was the Coby he knew, the guy he had seen rise through the ranks in the Marines, and the guy he would always call his friend.

After a little while Coby had calmed down enough and was in the process of agreeing with the earlier statement about his miserable life. "If only I had the courage to drift across the ocean in a barrel, like you. Then maybe I too could have the courage to follow my dream."

Luffy watched as a kindle of fire, albeit small, had started behind his eyes. He made a noise to indicate he was listening. Though he was sort of annoyed that Coby had thought he had sailed long in that tiny and uncomfortable barrel, he wasn't about to interject now.

"Um Luffy-san, do you mind me asking why you're traveling on this sea?" Coby had a naïve and almost childish hope in his eyes.

This was his favourite part Luffy realized, and even though he hadn't made it last time, he still had the conviction that he would this time around. He looked over at Coby and smiled the brightest smile he had, "I'm gonna become the Pirate King!" Also, the face Coby made at this statement was priceless.

"P… P… PIRATE KING?" Coby screamed aghast.

Luffy had to hold himself back from rolling over laughing, if it had been funny the first time, it was hilarious this time around. "Yup."

"Seriously?" Coby was still in shock it seemed.

"Yup, seriously." It was soon becoming too much for him, if Coby didn't come to the point soon he would lose his calm and laugh his ass off over the entire situation.

"D-does that mean you're a pirate Luffy-san?" Coby asked, still shocked if you went by the sweat that was rolling down his face.

 _Seriously Coby? I just announced I'm going to be the next Pirate King, and you go ahead and ask that? You really are an idiot._ "Of course I'm a pirate, why else would I want to become Pirate King?"

Coby seemed to shake himself out of his shocked state. "T-then you have a crew right?"

"Well… Not right now, no. But I'm looking for them." He said with a smile. He seriously couldn't wait to see them all again.

That seemed to be the last straw for Coby's sanity though, and Luffy was afraid his face had gotten stuck with his jaw hanging down, almost reaching the floor. He waved a hand in front of his face to snap him out of it. It didn't take long before something seemed to snap in Coby's head and he stood up. "T-The Pirate King is the person who has everything in the world! Wealth, fame and power, everything everyone wants! So that means you're going after the legendary ONE PIECE?" He screamed again.

"Yup." Luffy laughed as he wondered if Coby screamed like that to add some dramatic effect or if he was just overwhelmed by the possibility that someone would want to do something like that. Either way he had nodded along to what Coby was screaming. It wasn't that he thought of having all those things wouldn't be fun; it just wasn't the reason he wanted to become the Pirate King.

His answer only seemed to make Coby lose it even more. "Yup? Is that all you can say? You do know every pirate is looking for that treasure right? You realise how impossible it is? It's complete madness! Impossible, impossible, impossible…"

Luffy had finally heard enough, he got up from the floor and gave him a knock on the head. He knew it was madness, that's why he was going to do it, he also knew that not every pirate out there wanted to find the One Piece, or at least many of them didn't bother to try hard enough to figure out a way to get there.

"Why did you hit me?" Coby squeaked out from the floor.

"Because you're being a crybaby." Luffy answered honestly. Also he wanted to get to the point; this was becoming tedious, and he wanted to fight Alvida already.

"Well I'm used to it anyway." Coby whimpered as he nursed the lump on his head.

Luffy sighed, how had he managed this the last time? "Coby, I know its madness, but I honestly don't care, I'm doing it because I want to. Simple as that." He said it in a gentler way than was probably necessary, but he wanted to get his point across. This was his choice, and if he wanted to do it, then he would do it. He took off his strawhat and looked at it, how it had been before it had been torn to pieces and stitched up again more times than he could count.

Coby seemed stunned again, and was looking up at him like he was from another planet or something.

"I decided I wanted to become the Pirate King, I know I have to fight for it, and I also don't care if I die fighting for it. That means that I could only get that far." Though he had already died once for it, he wasn't going to die that easily this time. "I'm not going to run away because it might get tough, that only means I need to get stronger. If that's what it takes I'll do it."

Coby was still sitting on the floor, and Luffy could see the gears turning in his head. _Any moment now…_

Then it was like a flame light up inside Coby and he stood up. "D-do you think I could do it?" He asked, almost in a whisper.

"Do what?" Luffy asked innocently.

Then with a new resolution Coby raised his head and spoke in a tone Luffy had been waiting for. "Do you think I could join the marines?"

"Marines?" Luffy asked, trying with all his might to keep out all his hatred for them in is voice. This was Coby's dream, and he wasn't going to trample all over it because of his hatred for them.

"That's right! Ever since I was a kid it's been my dream to become a marine and catch bad guys." Coby nearly screamed. "Do you think I can do it?" He looked at Luffy, his eyes burning with renewed hope.

"I don't know, it's all up to you now isn't it?" He couldn't help but laugh. But it only seemed to fuel Coby's resolution even more.

"That's true! And I'm going to do it! I'm going to stop being Alvida-sama's slave and I'm going to get out of here. Then when I've become a marine, I'M GOING TO CATCH HER!" He screamed even louder than before, and just as he was finished screaming something came crashing through the ceiling.

"COBY!" A female voice rang through the room, "-AND JUST WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CATCH!?"

 _My god, she's even uglier than I remembered._ Luffy looked at Alvida, he remembered that she had changed somewhat when they had met her in Lougetown, but this was just ridiculous.

Coby was visibly paling and his whole body was shaking, clearly terrified of her. It was natural after all, after having served as her slave for several years, being beaten every day and more. It just served to refuel Luffy's anger towards her, but he stood his ground, even when Alvida's lackeys thrust their swords through the wall around his head.

Finally Alvida looked up from where she was staring down at Coby and looked over at him. "You're not Pirate Hunter Zoro," she stated. Luffy was sure there was disappointment in her tone.

"Nope, I'm not," he said yawning, then turning his head to Coby he jerked a thumb towards Alvida, "-anyway Coby, you know this fat whale by chance?"

That got Alvida's attention like he knew it would, and he could see the rage boil inside her, he didn't need haki to know her murderous intent now. "COBY, who's the most beautiful woman of all the seas?"

Coby was too scared to answer and seemed to tremble even more. Luffy had thought it over, wasn't it said that Hancock was the most beautiful of all the seas? At least that's what Sanji had said. "That would be Pirate Empress Boa Hancock," he said nonchalantly picking his nose with his pinky, "-everyone knows that."

Now Alvida was literally steaming with anger, her face was becoming so red that Luffy wasn't sure if it was going to blow up or not. But it served its purpose at least as Alvida raised her iron club, instinctually he used his observation and saw that she was about to bash his skull in. He really hadn't needed to use it, but it had become a reflex now so he hadn't even thought about it. Quickly he shot his arm out and wrapped it around Coby before jumping up the hole and on to deck. Just as he landed, he heard the club hit the floor where he had been standing. He jerked his head towards Coby and grinned, "Watch this."

Alvida's lackeys tried charging him, but Luffy dodged them easily, realizing that east blue was going to get boring really fast if this was the level of pirates he was going to fight against. _Oh well, might as well put on a show for the fun of it._ He jumped around laughing while the weakling pirates tried again and again to land a blow on him. One unfortunate soul even tried attacking from behind, but Luffy just sidestepped him and kicked him towards the others who were charging from the front. He hated cowards like that; these pirates were just as bad as some of the marines they had encountered. When he looked back up he realized that the rest of the crew had gathered behind him as well and was trying to attack, _fucking cowards,_ he could have easily knocked them out with haki at that point, but he thought better of it, best not reveal that power to everyone yet. So instead he feigned fear and stared running from them till he got to the main mast. He hooked his hand on it and kept running, stretching his arm for a bit before he looked back at them and laughed. "Gomu-Gomu-no Rocket!" The pirates, probably never having seen a devil fruit screamed in fear and tried running away from him, but he flew towards them and knocked them overboard.

Alvida, who had just popped her head up from the hole she had created, clearly didn't believe what she had seen either, and Coby's jaw was close to hitting the floor again. When Luffy stood up and brushed off his clothes Coby stuttered, "L-Luffy-san, w-what are you?"

"Me? I'm a rubberman." He declared proudly, stretching his cheeks for added effect. It always amused him how people reacted to seeing a devil fruit user for the first time.

"A-A rubberman?"

"Yeah, I ate the Gomu-Gomu fruit."

Alvida who had just gotten out of the hole then, came up to Luffy and Coby, and just like before Coby cowered behind him in fear. Luffy tried not to pity him, but it was hard.

"So you ate one of the devil fruits huh?" she asked, but not expecting an answer she went on, "-I've heard stories about them, but I never really believed they existed. So what are you, a bounty hunter out for my head?"

Luffy looked at her, "Only a weakling would be going after your bounty, and no I'm not, I'm a pirate." He folded his hands over his chest as he said it proudly.

Alvida looked like she was trying to control her anger over what he had just said, and Luffy had to give her credit for actually trying to learn about her foe before attacking again. Most pirates in East Blue and parts of Paradise were too hot headed to do that.

"You? A pirate all by yourself huh?" She sneered at him, like he was some other weakling.

"Well, right now I am, but I'll gather up a crew eventually." _I'll be there soon everyone, just wait a little longer and we'll be together again. I promise!_ Then Luffy picked up on a voice from the other ship, Nami had finished her raiding, so that meant he had to finish this up quickly too.

Alvida had started laughing, "So if you're a pirate that makes us enemies, doesn't it?"

"Well yeah I guess it does, but that's not why I'm gonna kick your ass." Luffy was cracking his knuckles; he was itching to get on with things.

"L-Luffy-san, you should run!" Coby stuttered behind him.

"Why? It's not like she's strong or anything." Luffy laughed.

"B-but her iron club…" Coby tried, but Luffy cut him off. "So? I'm not scared of it, and neither should you be."

"B-but she's t-the number one…" Coby started again, but then it seemed like something dawned on him and he paused.

Alvida had picked up on it too it seemed, "The number one what?" She said still fuming and murderous intent was rolling off her in waves.

Luffy looked at Coby expectantly, he knew Coby would need a lot of help getting enough courage to follow his dream, and he wanted to help him, but he also wanted him to learn to stand up for himself instead of relying on others all the time. Coby seemed to struggle with his thoughts for a second, but then stood up and bellowed, "THE NUMBER ONE BIGGEST AND UGLIEST STRANDED WHALE IN ALL OF THE SEAS!"

Luffy couldn't help but laugh, this was so much better than the last time, Alvida's eyes were shadowed by her hat and she was shaking with rage. "Well said Coby! I'll take it from here." Luffy smiled down at him.

"YOU BRAT!" Alvida finally screamed and pummelled her iron club down on them. Luffy having foreseen it whispered a silent "Armament" And the top of his head turned black a second before the club made contact to his head. It shattered on impact and Alvida's wrist cracked slightly under the pressure. "YOU FUCKER, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!" She screamed, clutching her injured hand.

"I didn't do anything, you're just that weak." he stuck his tongue out, childishly, "-I told you, didn't I? I'm not fighting you because we're both pirates." He stood up, readying himself to send her flying.

"Then why you damn brat?" Alvida shrieked, clearly having come down from her rage, and was now torn between fear and anger.

"Because I hate people who treat others like shit, and use people as slaves!" He gave her a dark look, emphasising just how much he loathed her. Then he thrust his fist backwards, doing a regular gomu-gomu-no pistol on her and sent her flying. He wished he could have done more to her, but they had to meet again in Lougetown, so he couldn't do too much damage sadly. He looked over at the remaining pirates then, who seemed too stunned to speak, "Hey! Give Coby a boat! He's gonna join the marines!" They all scrambled to find them a boat, when they had finally found one and were about to lower it into the sea, cannons from three marine vessels started shooting at them. "The cruise ship must have sent out a distress-call to the nearby patrols or marine base," Coby whined, looking at the oncoming ships with terror.

"Oh that's good Coby, now you can join them right?" Luffy knew there was going to take a lot more to get Coby to join the marines, but he still had to say it. "But I gotta run, pirate you know, would be bad if I got caught before even starting." He laughed as he jumped over the railing and into the dinghy that was being lowered. Coby seemed to lose his nerve as well and jumped after him, as Luffy knew he would.

When the dinghy hit the water he looked over into the next boat and saw Nami, just as he remembered her. He smiled at her, and she smiled timidly back at him. But before they could do or say anything, more cannonballs were hitting the water around them and they bolted in opposite directions.

* * *

When they had gained a fair amount of distance to the ships, Luffy felt himself coming down from the high of battle, and before he knew it the white burning pain shot through his chest again, this time it was almost as bad as the ones he had had when he first came back to this time. He knew he must have been screaming, and most likely writhing in pain too, because when he finally came to his senses, he was laying on the floor of the dinghy and Coby was standing over him looking terrified. He was breathing hard, and his vision was still slightly blurred as he tried to look up at him, "Fuck," he wheezed taking a few more gulps of air and coughing, "Fucking hell! I hate this shit."

"Luffy-san, a-are you okay? What happened?" Coby's voice was shaking, he was clearly terrified and Luffy couldn't blame him.

After a few moments he'd managed to calm himself down, and even though he was still breathing hard, the pain had finally started to recede into a dull ache. He figured he could probably start moving again then, and raising his head from the floor a little he tried to shake it to clear his vision, he needed to get rid of the blurriness. It only made him feel slightly nauseous however, and he stopped lest he started to throw up, blurriness be damned, he couldn't lose what little food he'd eaten that day. "I'm fine now, just… just give me a few seconds to breathe okay?" He looked up at Coby, who was just a mass of colours above his head.

Coby nodded, but remained standing over him looking concerned, "Y-you sure you don't need anything? A doctor maybe?"

On the mention of doctors, Luffy was reminded of Chopper, he would probably have some way to cure this, right? _If the pain is still there when we get to Chopper, I'll have him look me over_. "No, no doctors, it'll go away soon, and then I'll be fine." He took a few more deep breaths, the pain was almost gone now thankfully, but he noticed that he'd lost a lot of energy; he hoped it was because of the lack of food, and not because of the collapse. Now a new question formed in his mind, would this happen every time after a fight?

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _Again, thanks for reading, please follow/fav, and if you like leave a review._


	5. The World is not as Black and White

**AN:** _Okay so this is a long chapter, like really long! But I did warn you that they would become longer in the last chapter. However, if you feel like it's too long to read the whole thing, I'm willing to divide it into two chapters, if that makes it easier for you. I am writing this for your entertainment after all._

 _The reason it's so long though, is mostly because I felt the need to make the story as detailed as possible, I don't want to be like those who barrel through the scenes and leave out a lot of important bits. (Reminds me of a teacher I had who told me I would never become a good writer because I had too many details in my stories.) Cunt didn't know she was talking about!_

 **Note:** _This chapter has been revised (08.03.17)_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 _Anyway thanks for all the support I've gotten so far! You guys are the best!_

 **Try and Try Again**

 **Chapter 5 – The World is not as Black and White as you think Coby**

"We finally got away." Coby said relieved, scouting in the direction of the ships; they were mere specks on the horizon now, but Luffy noticed that he was still constantly glancing over at him with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine Coby, it happens sometimes, it's just a bitch when it does," Luffy sighed as he rested against the tiny mast of the dinghy. He didn't want Coby to worry too much, though he had no idea what had happened when he actually collapsed, or what it had looked like to Coby, but he didn't want to dwell on it anymore, he was finally on his way to get Zoro back. He needed to focus on that, and only that, so he wouldn't screw it up.

"Um…Okay, but Luffy-san…" Coby seemed to hesitate on his words.

"Hmm?" Luffy looked over at him where he stood, keeping watch on their heading.

"You're going after the One Piece right? Doesn't that mean you're heading to Grand Line?" Coby asked a bit timidly. Luffy sighed, relieved that he didn't pry on why he had collapsed, but now he was confused by the way Coby was talking again. It was as if he was afraid that Luffy would get mad at him for speaking or something. Luffy didn't know if it was because he was afraid of him after what had just happened, or if it was because of everything that whale had done towards him. He had a suspicion that it was a combination of both, but he would always blame everything that made Coby cower and afraid on Alvida, but now wasn't the time to show that anger, so he just nodded in affirmation to Coby.

"You know they call it 'the pirate's graveyard' right?" Coby looked at his feet, clearly still expecting to get hit or yelled at for opening his mouth.

"Well, I wouldn't call it that… Sure most of the weaklings who try going there gets crushed or beaten within a week, but I'm not worried about Paradise, it's going to be so much fun!" The thought on going to Paradise again made him more excited than he thought he would be. It would be such a breeze compared to the things they had gone through in New World. Well… Crocodile and Lucci might still be problematic, but he'd think about that when they got that far, and there was also the problem with the pain in his chest. He hoped it would have continued to subside by then, or maybe even gone away completely. "Also with a strong crew it won't be that hard." He thought of his crew and wondered again if they also got sent back in time, or if it was just him. "Hey I heard this Zoro guy was being held at a marine base near here, if we go there you can go and enlist right? And I can make Zoro join my crew!" He grinned.

"What? Y-you… b-but… don't you know how dangerous Zoro is? Also… I'm not sure I'm ready to join yet…" Coby was flailing and waving his arms around. Clearly that had been too much information at once for him, Luffy sighed.

"Listen Coby, I don't care what people have said about him, I don't care about rumours, if he's a good guy I want him to join, simple as that, and yes you are ready, didn't you just scream it on top of your lungs back on that ship?" Luffy was shaking his head at Coby, when was he going to stop being such a crybaby, seriously.

"I-I guess you're right," Coby said in almost a whisper, "-we'll head off to Shells Town then" He redirected their course and they caught a good tailwind.

* * *

"Finally! We're here!" Luffy laughed as he jumped ashore, leaving Coby to tie up the dinghy. "I can't wait! You ready Coby?"

"Ah… sure," Coby had jumped slightly when Luffy had talked to him, and though it probably hadn't been visible for other's Luffy had noticed it. Frowning he decided not to comment on it. If everything went as planned he would get his courage eventually, and if he managed to get training under his grandpa again it would definitely get beaten out of him in no time. "Good, let's go then," he smiled back at him.

Leading the way, they made their way up the main street. Luffy couldn't help looking around, taking in the sight of the little town, it was so nostalgic walking there again. The smell from the vendors made his mouth water, but as he didn't really have any beri he just went over to one of them and picked up some pears, biting into one of them he was reminded of some of the fruit Sanji used to keep on the ship, he really couldn't wait to eat his food again. He dug into his pants and took up some spare beri, it wasn't much but he gave some to the man and thanked him. He'd probably paid too much though, as the man thanked him back in earnest, bowing his head over and over again. "Don't worry about it."

Looking over at Coby he noticed him looking around too, but it was a panicked expression, like he was continuously looking for someone to attack them. Luffy chose not to comment on it, why hadn't he noticed it the last time? "You think Zoro is at that base?" He looked up the street towards the giant base that towered over the little town, but he'd barely said Zoro's name before everyone around them had screamed in terror and run for cover. Luffy saw how they tried to get as much distance between them and themselves. Coby looked bewildered around when he noticed it too, "Um… Luffy-san I think we better not say his name out loud here." He whispered.

"Ah, yeah you're right. But I'm telling you Coby, I have a feeling he's not a bad guy." Luffy shook his head and continued walking up the street towards the base, he needed to remind himself that this was not the Grand Line and people weren't used to dealing with constant fear here, "-anyway we'll go up to the marine base, so you can enlist, okay?"

Coby, now looking up towards the giant base, seemed to shrink in on himself, "Well… I don't think…" But Luffy cut him off like he'd done so many times when Coby started to blabber on about not being ready. "Coby? Did you forget about your resolution already? Of course you're ready to join," he said firmly. Coby would need a lot of help before he was ready, that was for sure.

"A-anyway, I heard that a lieutenant commander by the name of Morgan is in charge of this base." Coby said, and just as with Zoro's name the people around seemed to jump and run for cover. Luffy just shook his head, but didn't say anything, _this is East Blue, of course they're scared._

"Why did they react that way? With Zoro I can understand it, but with a marine lieutenant? That just doesn't make any sense." Coby had stopped in his tracks and looked around bewildered.

"Well it's not that weird really." Luffy had stopped too, but instead of looking at the people around them he was looking around for a place he could tell Coby some harsh truths about this world. When he finally spotted an alley, and before Coby could say anything, he'd dragged him into it and turned towards him. "Listen Coby, I know it's your dream to become a marine, and I won't stop you, hell, I'm even helping you become one, but there are some things you need to understand. You see there are some marines that get corrupted when they get too much power; that's what happened to the marine in charge here. You have to understand Coby that not all marines are good, and not all who get a bounty on their head is bad."

Coby was about to protest, but Luffy cut him off, having an idea of what he was going to say. "Alright look at it this way, the people in this town is afraid of Morgan because he's ruling this town with what we call absolute justice, which means that he will use any means necessary to keep his power and status, while masquerading is as 'keeping the peace'. That includes hurting innocent people, which is what he's doing here, you agree with me that that makes him a bad guy, right? Then look at me, I'm a pirate, and even though I don't have a bounty on my head yet, I'm seen as a criminal in the eyes of the marines because of the sole reason I call myself one. Now, do you think I'm a bad guy Coby?"

Understanding seemed to dawn on Coby, "Well no you're not as far as I've seen, I guess it makes sense."

"Listen Coby, I'm all for you becoming a marine, but please remember to follow your instincts and not blindly follow any order you are given. If something smells fishy, it's usually because of the rotten way some marines go about their so called justice. Become a good marine, like you say you will, I won't allow a friend of mine to end up like some of the marines I know of." Luffy was thinking of most of the marines he had met, their so called absolute justice that justified more inhumane treatment of people than almost any pirate he knew of could ever imagine doing. He didn't want Coby to end up like that.

"O-Ok… not sure I get it, but I'll try." Coby nodded, but Luffy still wasn't sure he'd gotten his message across, but it didn't matter, it would happen eventually. A flash of Coby standing in front of him when he was running towards Ace pierced his mind, and he felt the pain stab his chest again. Clenching his fist he looked up at the sky, "-you will eventually."

He tried not to show how painful it was, but he couldn't help but notice the look Coby was giving him, a mix of pity and worry, he hated being looked at like that, "-let's go to the base now, okay?"

Coby just nodded and they walked out into the streets again, following the path up to the marine base. Standing in front of the gates all they saw was a large wall with big steels doors surrounding the building. It sort of reminded Luffy of the wall between Grey Terminal and Edge Town, though this was not nearly as grand as that one. "Alright, this is it! Now where is Zoro." Luffy could hear his voice coming from inside, so he walked over to the wall and jumped up, hanging on by his arms. Coby, who had gone into another monologue of how he didn't think he was ready yet, suddenly stopped mid-sentence and screamed up at him, "L-Luffy-san? What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for Zoro of course." He peered over the grounds of the marine base; looking at it now he realized just how boring the whole place looked, it was really just a field of gravel, and a little distance away from himself he saw him, tied to a cross in the middle of the grounds. "There he is!"

Jumping down from the wall he gave Coby a shit-eating grin and ran around the wall. When he heard Zoro's voice get stronger he jumped up again, right in front of where he was tied up by the arms. If Luffy hadn't heard his voice he could have believed he was dead, he was slumped over and looked really pale, Luffy ached to get through with it now and get them some proper food. He hated seeing his swordsman like this; he hated the thought of any of his crewmembers looking like this to be honest.

Coby, who had finally come running after him, had climbed up on the wall beside him, panting slightly. "I told you Luffy-san, he won't be here..." he'd chocked on the last word however, because almost before he'd turned his head fully towards where Luffy was looking he'd nearly fallen down in shock.

Zoro had wanted to scream at Luffy then, he was just so relieved to see him alive and breathing again, and even though he was having brief flashes of Luffy's burnt and ruined body lying on the ground in front of himself, and the smell of burnt rubber filling his nose, he'd managed to somewhat keep his mind in the present and so kept his mouth shut. He tried to keep as still as he could, he couldn't give himself away until they were out of this place. He didn't really know the extent of Luffy's haki though, so he didn't know if he was aware of other people's inner turmoil or what. Haki was such an individual thing that everyone experienced it and used it differently to some degree.

"If we just untie his ropes he'll be free, right?" Luffy grinned. "Don't be stupid Luffy-san, i-if you do that he'll kill you!" Coby squealed, still clearly terrified of Zoro.

Luffy gave Coby a disapproving look, "Don't you remember what I told you? Besides I'm strong, aren't I?"

Zoro had somehow managed to listen to their conversation through the haze of flashbacks, and figured now was a good time to jump into the conversation as any and it would also be fun to scare Coby a little more. "Hey you guys! You're bothering me, get lost!" He yelled up at them with some menace, but he couldn't go all the way, he was still so damn happy to see Luffy alive again. Coby on the other hand was shaking like a leaf, screaming at Luffy that he would die if he recruited a guy like that. Zoro smirked ever so slightly at that.

Suddenly a ladder was placed against the wall next to Coby, and a little girl came climbing up it. She motioned for Luffy and Coby to be quiet, before jumping over and into the enclosed field below. Luffy noticed that she was carrying something wrapped in a piece of cloth in her arms, and smiled. _I hope Zoro decides to eat those before they end up like mud again._ He watched on as the little girl ran over to Zoro, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Coby, clearly still terrified, yelled after her to stop, but when the girl kept running he turned to Luffy, "Luffy stop her, she'll be killed!" Luffy just shook his head; _Zoro would never hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it._ "No she won't, look." Coby turned his head back to see what Zoro would do, still obviously afraid for the little girl's life, but kept quiet.

Zoro cursed under his breath, he didn't want some gravel trodden onigiri again, but eating it now would make Luffy suspicious of him being back too, right? _Well, it's Luffy, he might not even notice_. "What do you want shorty?" He said calmly, she just wanted to help, he reminded himself.

"Aren't you hungry? I made you some onigiri." The little girl said smiling while she unwrapped what she held in her hands. In the cloth were two pearly white onigiri that had Zoro's mouth watering and he had to concentrate so he wouldn't start drooling at the sight of them.

"You're going to get killed kid, you shouldn't have come here." He looked down at her sympathetically. Man, he really wanted those onigiri.

"But you haven't eaten anything in over a week," the little girl pleaded, "-and this is the first time I've made it, please try them?"

Zoro used his observation haki to listen around him, trying to figure out where that bastard son was. The guy was slowly making his way there, but they still had some time. _Screw it, if Luffy notices I'll deal with it afterwards._ "Alright, but make it quick, and put the wrapper in your pocket after, okay?" He opened his mouth, and the girl gave him both at the same time. He didn't comment on how sweet they were, due to all the sugar the girl had put in them, but instead chewed as fast as he could. The little girl quickly put the wrapper in her pocket, and Zoro nodded and smiled down at her approvingly. He swallowed as quickly as he could when the gates into the courtyard started to open. "I'm going to yell at you now." He whispered to the girl, and she nodded.

"GO HOME SHORY! YOU'RE BOTHERING ME! THIS IS NO PLACE FOR A LITTLE GIRL!" he screamed at her. She didn't move however, and Zoro wished she had, it would have made the scene a little bit more believable.

"You shouldn't be bullying little brats!" A stuck up voice called out to him, as a figure with an onion looking, yellow haircut came through the gates. He was walking towards him, and Zoro saw that he was flanked by a marine on each side. "Fucking coward," he swore under his breath, and even though he knew how this was going down, he didn't like it, he just hoped Luffy would catch her this time around as well.

"Huehuehuehue, still as energetic as ever I see, Roronoa Zoro." The guy was twiddling with the collar of his shirt and his face was contorted in a disgustingly smug manner.

Luffy thought there was something vaguely familiar about the guy; if he wasn't mistaken this was the guy who had been with Coby when they had met up in Water 7. But what was his name? Hempo? Helmo? _Eerh, whatever._ Next to him he heard Coby sigh, "Thank goodness, now the girl is bound to be safe." He didn't bother correcting Coby and reminding him of what he had said about marines though, he knew she wasn't, and Coby would see that for himself in just a few moments.

Helmeppo looked down at the girl, "Oh, what are you doing here little girl, this is an execution site you know?"

Zoro tried biting back his distaste for the bastard, "She came to gawk at the criminal, why else would she be here you idiot?"

"Who the hell are you calling an idiot, you bastard? Don't you know this girl is trespassing on private property?" Helmeppo screamed back at him, having come so close to his face that his spit was hitting it, he longed to punch the guy so badly, and he really wanted to wipe away that disgusting spittle of his cheek too.

He saw that the girl was looking up at the marines with tears in her eyes, and though he would never admit it, Zoro's heart broke at the sight of it, "B-but…" she started, but Helmeppo interrupted her, "Don't you dare talk when I'm speaking!" he screamed at her as he slapped her hard across the face. Gritting his teeth Zoro saw how the girl was thrown to the ground right in front of him, he so desperately wanted to break the ropes holding him and lunge at the bastard more and more, it was infuriating to just stand there, but he knew he couldn't do anything yet.

"Why did he do that? She didn't do anything except give Zoro food, and she's just a little girl, too." Coby muttered.

"I'll teach you some manners little girl! Women speak when they are spoken to, and I wasn't talking to you, so keep your mouth shut!" He yelled at her as she tried holding back her sobs while clutching her bruised cheek. "Didn't you read the poster that's been issued all over town? Well, I guess you can't read yet, so I'll read it to you!" He pulled out a poster from a pocket inside his suit jacket and started reading. "Any person perceived or caught aiding a criminal will be charged and punished to the same degree of said criminal. Signed, lieutenant commander Morgan." He stared down at the little girl again, "-do you know what that means?"

The little girl just shook her head, apparently not daring to speak again. Zoro tried to hold his cool, but he could barely keep his fury at bay, he just really wanted to break the guy's neck for being such a despicable excuse for a human being. _Luffy will give him a thorough beating later; I just need to hold on until then._

"It means that you will be punished, just like Roronoa here," he smirked, "-you do know who my father is right, you brat?" The girl had gone deathly pale at that.

Luffy could see Zoro's arms flexing at what was going on in front of him and knew that for all his pride and stubbornness about staying there for a month for that girl's sake, he also probably wanted nothing less than to break free and lunge at that bastard. Again he wondered why he hadn't seen that the last time, had he really been that inattentive? Or was it because of his haki that he saw it now? Coby's voice cut through his thought's then, "So does that mean he's Morgan's son?" At first Luffy wasn't sure what he was talking about, but then realised that he was probably talking about that bastard, and grunted an affirmation.

Helmeppo seemed happy with the result of his intimidation and nodded, "I'm feeling generous today though, so I'll just toss you out instead." He turned back to one of the marines and told him to throw the girl over the wall, as that would teach her not to do something like this again. When the marine didn't react right away he got right up in his face, "I'm telling you to toss her out! Are you defying my orders? I'll tell my father about this!" That seemed to snap the marine out of his initial shock and he saluted, "Right away, sir!"

The marine went over to the little girl and crouched in front of her; Zoro heard him whisper to her to curl up in a ball, before he hoisted her up in the air and threw her with as much force as he could, probably to ensure that she would go over the wall, and not into it. He watched as Luffy followed her path through the air and just as she was going over the wall he stretched out his arms and flew after her. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding then, why he had doubted Luffy at that moment he didn't know.

Luffy, not having had the time to do a proper fusen to take the fall, had landed with his back hard on the ground. He'd managed to inflate some of his stomach though, so the girl was fine as she had had a somewhat soft landing, and that was what mattered. Coby, screaming if they were alright, came running over looking horror-struck; he quickly crouched down to help the girl to her feet, "Are you hurt?" he asked her softly, but she just shook her head, probably still a little dazed after the fall, "N-No, I'm fine."

Coby looked back at the wall again, a look of disgust on his face, "-how can anyone be that despicable?"

Back in the base Zoro was trying his hardest to keep his cool, and not let any haki slip out and coat some part of his body; he was definitely nearing his breaking point now. "You bastard," he snarled and glared at him as he wasn't able to do anything else at the moment. Helmeppo just laughed however, "I'm impressed you're still alive Roronoa, but don't worry you'll never make it." It seemed he had had his fun with him for now and turned to leave, which suited Zoro just fine, "Oh I'll make it through the whole month, just you watch!" he spat after him, that bastard was in for a nasty surprise later, that was for sure.

Luffy was listening for Helmeppo to leave so he could jump over the wall again. He wanted to talk to Zoro, but he was still a little unsure of what he had said the last time, he still wasn't sure if changing conversations mattered or not either. It wasn't like he remembered exactly what he'd said; he just knew somewhat what he had done, so if he managed to get Zoro to join the crew it should all be good, right?

Zoro, as soon as Helmeppo had turned to leave, had closed his eyes and forced himself to cool down, taking deep breaths and willing his body to relax, he needed to have a clear mind when talking to Luffy for the first time after what had happened. When he finally heard the crunch of soles hitting gravel, he opened his eyes again and saw Luffy walking towards him; he looked just as he had done before they had split up to train a little over two years ago. For some reason that took him by surprise, like he had expected to see him like he had done in their last battle, with cuts and bruises littering his body. Suddenly it dawned on him that he was staring; he needed to find a way to cover it, and fast. "What are you still doing here?" he barked out, it was supposed to sound more cool and menacing, but somehow it had ended up a lot more rushed than he'd intended it to, _fuck._

As Luffy walked over to him, he thought he saw a brief flash of shock on Zoro's face, but it had vanished so quickly when Zoro had barked at him that he'd shrugged it off, _maybe I just imagined it_. "I came to see if you're as bad as they say you are." Luffy said good-naturedly. He'd tried wracking his brain for what he'd said the last time, but now he really didn't have a clue anymore. _Shit, I just gotta wing it then._

Luffy looked him up and down, he really did look too pale, "-so you're being publicly humiliated huh? Not much of a punishment if you ask me." There was no mockery in his voice though; he knew Zoro had let himself be caught to save that girl, and if anything Zoro was definitely a man of his words.

"Mind your own business!" Zoro snapped back, he'd tried saying it harshly, but couldn't manage it as much as he would have liked to. It really was hard keeping a clear mind, especially when the smell of burnt rubber had started assaulting his nose again.

Luffy smirked a little then, _same old Zoro, always trying to sound so tough._ "You know," he cocked his head a little to the side, "-I would probably have escaped as soon as I had the chance."

"Well I'm different from you, I'm gonna survive this to show them." Zoro smirked as he forced himself not to scrunch up his nose at the offending smell. He probably would have survived, but that didn't really matter now anyway.

"Hmm… I guess you're stubborn enough for it." Luffy said knowingly. He didn't doubt that Zoro could handle anything thrown at him, but he still didn't like that his swordsman was tied up like this, it didn't sit right with him. Still, there was nothing he could do about it right now, he needed to punch that onion head first, "-oh well, see you around," he turned to leave and waved his hand over his shoulder, _any second now..._

"Hang on a minute." Zoro called after him, a flash of panic had gone through him when Luffy turned to leave, _wasn't he supposed to untie me?_ Then it dawned on him that that wasn't until a little later, _shit I forgot_.

Luffy kept a straight face, though internally he was grinning like mad.

"Could you tell the little girl that the onigiri was good? Give her my thanks, would you?" Zoro, having scrambled for anything to cover up his slip, had remembered that little girl and how hard of a time she'd had, not just this time, but last time as well, and even though they were way too sweet, the onigiri she'd brought him was still food.

Luffy finally grinned and nodded his head, "Sure."

* * *

"He said that?" Rika beamed, clearly happy that Zoro had liked the onigiri she had made.

"Yeah, he wanted me to thank you." Luffy smiled down at her from a barrel he was sitting on. He had found Coby and Rika still outside the wall when he jumped back over it; they had then made their way down to the town again. Rika had finally told them her name, and that her mother owned a little restaurant in the town.

They were currently sitting outside the backdoor of the restaurant in one of the alleys; Coby was shaking his head, a look of confusion on his face, "Is Zoro really such a bad guy?" he asked to no one in particular. Rika looked up at him from where she was sitting on the steps to the door, "No, he's not!" she shook her head, "-h-he's only tied up like that because of us…" she trailed off sadly.

"What do you mean by that?" Coby asked incredulously, Luffy knew the story, but chose not to say anything; this was Rika's story to tell. So instead he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, he didn't really need to listen to the story again. He'd thought a nap would be a good idea, but just as he was about to doze off, the pain in his chest started again. So clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, he tried to instead use the story as an anchor so he wouldn't collapse totally again.

Rika, who was shaking slightly, looked at the ground and started talking almost in a whisper, "I-It's really Helmeppo's fault, h-he's Morgan's son." And she went on to tell them about how Helmeppo had terrorised the town with his pet wolf that would attack anyone. And how they had come into their restaurant and started to attack the people there. Rika had tried to get it to stop, but Helmeppo had hit her, and then Zoro had stepped in and cut the wolf as it was about to attack her. Helmeppo had threatened to kill her and her mother if Zoro didn't turn himself in, stay tied up, and go without food or water for an entire month. "I-it's been almost two weeks now…" she trailed off. But neither Luffy nor Coby needed to hear any more.

Suddenly there were sounds of breaking glass inside the restaurant, and they heard a smug voice calling from inside, "I'm hungry! We're going to eat here for free today!"

Luffy's eyes darkened; he knew they had been coming towards them since the middle of Rika's story, but he'd stayed put, he knew he couldn't do anything until the bastard started causing a scene. He also knew that Nami was in that building, which was why he'd made them stay outside all this time. He wasn't sure how he'd react when he saw her again; their brief encounter earlier when they'd both left Alvida's ship had made him uncertain of his own actions. He'd smiled at her like he knew her, or at least he thought he had, and he really didn't want to scare her away, he knew how much she hated pirates in the beginning. Now he didn't have a choice however; he tried to calm his anger as they walked inside, this guy really needed a good punch to the face, but knew that he needed to not kill him, too. The first thing he noticed was Nami sitting by a window though, but he tried his hardest not to acknowledge her at the moment, he really needed to focus on onion-head.

"I've decided I'm going to execute Zoro tomorrow," Helmeppo said smugly, "-as an example to all of you, of what happens when you oppose my dad," he laughed.

Luffy took that as his cue and lunged at him, he didn't really care what was said at all. Yes, he was pissed at the guy for what he'd done to Rika, but he did it mostly because the guy was a terrible excuse for a human being more than anything else. He tried to focus solely on holding back though, but it was hard. He ran forward and slugged the bastard in the face so he crashed through the wall; he could have sworn that he hadn't done that the last time. Had he really become that much stronger by just being back? He had wanted to run after him to kick him in hard then and there though, but as Coby tried holding him back, he knew it wouldn't do to trash the restaurant just so he could exert some of his anger. He would take it out on Morgan soon enough. "He's trash!" Luffy growled through gritted teeth.

Taking deep breaths however, he finally calmed down enough to walk outside, Coby was still holding onto him though, "Let go of me Coby, I won't kill him," he said exasperated. Helmeppo lay on his back in the street clutching his cheek, "Y-You hit me! I-I'm lieutenant commander Morgan's son you know!" he cried.

"So what?" Luffy spat back at him. He hated this guy, how Coby had ended up friends with this piece of garbage was beyond him.

"I-I'm going to tell him, and I'll have you executed! Even my father has never laid a hand on me!" He cried back, as the marines around him helped him to his feet and hobbled along up the street.

"Why don't you fight for yourself you fucking coward!" Luffy bellowed back, he wanted nothing more than to kick this guy's ass 6 ways from Sunday. "I've decided Coby, I'm gonna make Zoro a part of my crew!" _Again!_

* * *

Zoro had tried meditating as he waited for Luffy to come back, but he hadn't managed it, instead he'd again had flashbacks from the battlefield. This time they had been more violent than before, the noises from the fighting had been almost deafening, but he had, thankfully, still been somewhat able to notice some of the things that had been going on around him. When he had heard that bastard coming back from town, crying and screaming profanities, swearing he was going to get this kid with a strawhat executed, he knew it was almost time for Luffy to show up. He knew he needed to be calm during this and not give in too much; so he started focusing on his breathing, like his sensei had thought him when he was younger. He had to let Luffy get his katana before he could accept his offer to join him as a pirate. Closing his eyes again, he tried to focus only on listening for Luffy.

It wasn't hard following Luffy's path through the town though, he was like a beacon of pure red, thoroughly pissed off haki that became stronger and stronger the more he neared the base. Zoro wondered if Luffy was even aware of the fact that he was emitting his haki like that. _I'll ask him about it later._

Soon enough Luffy jumped over the wall and started walking towards him, he could feel how Luffy's haki slowly changed and started to fade as he was nearing him, it amazed him that he was actually able to feel the physical changes of his captains energy, he couldn't remember being able to do that before, had his observation haki changed? Or was it Luffy that had changed? Either way he didn't have time to dwell on it now, he needed to focus on what was about to happen. He waited for Luffy to stop in front of him before opening his eyes, "You're back," he stated nonchalantly, trying to make it sound like he didn't care that he'd come to see him again.

Luffy gave a short grunt and a nod at that, he was still pissed off, but he'd managed to calm himself down somewhat at least, he needed to keep his head if he wanted to make Zoro his nakama again. "So, I have two options for you, join my pirate crew and live, or stay here and wait for that bastard to kill you tomorrow." He knew he didn't really give him any options, he was going to run and get his katana's soon anyway, but he thought that if he made it sound like Zoro made the choice himself it would be easier for him.

"Two options, huh? Doesn't sound like any to me," Zoro raised an eyebrow at him. He had missed Luffy's straight forwardness, it was one of the things he liked the most about his captain, you almost always knew where he stood, and what he was planning, "-and who's saying I'm gonna get killed tomorrow?"

"Well I thought I'd at least give you the illusion that you had a choice, but okay, then it's decided you'll become my crewmate." Luffy grinned at him; _this might actually be easier than last time_. He was about to go over and start untying him when Zoro shot him a look of amused disbelief, "I ain't becoming a filthy pirate!"

Zoro couldn't believe Luffy thought that that would work; did he think that he wasn't going to have to work for it, just like last time? _Trust has to be earned Luffy, even if in another time we were as close as family, this is still our "first" meeting_ , Zoro didn't even know if that made sense or not, but it was as good of a reason as any. "Why would I want to become an outlaw like you?" He levelled him with a challenging stare.

"What's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy stared back with the same challenging look. He knew old Zoro didn't like pirates, but it was for an entirely different reason than Nami, or at least he thought so. To be honest, he never got to know why Zoro used to hate them so much.

"Pirates are scum. Who in their right mind would want to be one?" Zoro smirked ever so slightly, he couldn't deny that being a pirate wasn't fun, but at the same time they knew way too many other pirates that were fucking bastards. He could think of a handful in East Blue alone, _yeah they were scum,_ he agreed with himself, and he never wanted to stoop to their level, though that was highly unlikely to happen at any rate.

"I don't care," Luffy huffed; of course Zoro would think that. Taking a second, he tried listening for what was going on inside the base; he knew he had to get up on that roof sometime soon, he just didn't know when exactly, if he remembered correctly Morgan and that Helmo guy had been up on the roof when he landed there. Listening he found that they were on their way up, _I still have some time to kill then, now what do I do?_ Not wanting to waste any more time he said the first thing that popped into his mind, "-anyway, aren't you known as an infamous pirate hunter or something? Everyone is scared of you already you know."

"I don't care what people think or say about me. I've never regretted anything I've done in life." Zoro continued to challenge Luffy with his stare, he knew Luffy was just biding his time before he could run off and get his katanas, and he knew Luffy was bound to bring up his time as a temporary bounty hunter, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Luffy knew well and good that it had been the only way for him to get food and booze while he was travelling around, and though he had never regretted it, he had also never actually called himself a bounty hunter, or a pirate hunter for that matter, that was just what the people had started calling him. And as ironic as it was, that was also the epithet he'd gotten when he'd first earned a bounty, for defeating over a hundred bounty hunters and that number one guy after becoming a pirate himself none the less. Realizing he'd been silent for too long, and that Luffy hadn't said anything either; he remembered Luffy saying he was going to be killed the next day, he was sure he hadn't done that the last time, "-hey, you said I'd die tomorrow, how do you know that? I was promised that if I stayed here for a month, I'd go free. There's no way I'll die so soon, I have more willpower than that," he smirked, yes he knew that that bastard had said he was going to execute him, but he needed to convince Luffy that he didn't know that, he was supposed to be oblivious to those facts after all.

"Ah, that onion-head said he was going to kill you tomorrow, so I decided to break you free and make you a part of my crew," Luffy grinned. Taking a fraction of a second again, he located Morgan and Helmeppo as they arrived at the top; _almost time to get his katanas then._ "By the way, you use three swords right?"

Zoro wanted to laugh, Luffy's logic was so simple sometimes, but he also couldn't give in just yet, "Don't go deciding that for yourself, I said I ain't going to become a part of your gang of pirates," he growled at him, he needed it to be convincing though so he added in a sneer, "-I'd never follow anyone, I am my own man," then sighing dejectedly as he thought about his precious katanas, well Wado for the most part, he grumbled, "-and yes I do, but that bastard took them." It left a sour taste in Zoro's mouth, knowing that the bastard had laid his hands in her, but he'd soon have her back at his side, where she belonged.

"Well I'm gonna go get them for you, and then you'll have no choice but to join me." Luffy gave him a shit eating grin, and before Zoro had time to yell at him, he took off towards the base, not running the wrong way this time.

 _That fucker,_ Zoro shook his head, _of course he would never give me a choice, when he's set his mind on something, he doesn't stop until he's got it_. He kept following Luffy with observation until he flew up to the roof, he would have followed him longer if it hadn't been for the fact that he spotted Coby on the wall in front of him, _so he finally grew some balls and came to help, good_.

Luffy landed on the ledge of the roof this time, taking care not to overdo his rocket like he had done the last time. He'd really wanted to see what the commotion was about; having broken the thing before he'd had a chance to see exactly what it was the last time he was there. Now that he saw the statue up close he was almost glad he hadn't seen it the last time; it was a statue of Morgan himself, and they'd made it out of rocks as well, "You really are an idiot, you know," he said amused just a little louder than necessary. As he had expected, every eye in the vicinity turned towards him at that. "Yo!" he grinned as he lifted his hand to greet them.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Morgan screamed from where he had been on the verge of killing one of he own men.

"Daddy, Daddy! That's the guy! He's the one who hit me!" Helmeppo screamed from where he was laying on the ground. Luffy wondered if it was a sport for him to get beat up all the time, not that he didn't deserve it.

"Hey if it had been up to me I would have killed you, count yourself lucky you bastard!" Luffy pointed at Helmeppo. Then remembering how ugly the statue was, he turned towards it, "I've gotta say, that's one ugly statue, why are you making it out of rock? Don't you know it's cooler to make it out of bronze?" He walked over to it and surveyed it, "-why don't I give you a hand?" He jerked his foot back and then with a well-placed kick in the middle of it, the whole thing split in half. The poor marines who had been trying to lift it had tried to hold on, but they had been dragged to the ground and lost their grip on the ropes, Luffy then watched as it fell and shattered as it hit the ground below, "-there, much better! Man that thing was an eyesore."

"CAPTURE THAT GUY!" Morgan bellowed, having finally snapped out of his initial shock that someone had dared disregard his status as a marine. "I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

Every marine on the roof saluted and was about to charge when Luffy took that as his cue to go get Zoro's katanas. If he remembered correctly Helmo or whatever his name was, had the katanas in his room. "You Helmo, come with me!" He grabbed him by the arm and ran through the doors. Just as he was starting to descend the stairs he heard a marine yell out that there was someone in the fields below. He didn't have much time then, they would start shooting at Zoro and Coby very soon.

Nami had tried to keep a low profile while she had been on the island, she had seen Luffy at the restaurant earlier, but as much as she had wanted to run up and hug him, she hadn't dared to make contact with him. She wasn't in danger, so having gone to Luffy asking for help wouldn't have worked, also the old man's voice kept ringing in her ears, "Anything you change in the past will alter the future for better or for worse." The 'for worse' part was what she was afraid of. She knew that there really wasn't much to find in the marine base this time, but she could try to gather some intel while she was there at least. Though she highly doubted a low ranking official like Morgan would have any noteworthy information they didn't already know about.

Luffy had been running through the base with marines constantly on his tail, he'd wanted to shake them off, but they knew this place better than him, so no matter where he ran he'd run into them. Finally giving up on finding the room himself, he stopped and yanked Helmeppo up by the collar, "Where's Zoro's katanas?" he yelled at him. _Why didn't I just do that in the beginning?_

"T-They're in my room." Helmeppo cried.

"I know that, but where the fuck is it?" he growled exasperated, he didn't have time for this.

"W-We just passed it, f-first door on the l-left." Helmeppo sobbed.

"Ugh, why didn't you just say that before we ran past it?" Luffy turned around to the marines that had caught up to him, he didn't have time to fight them either, there were no way out of it then. Focusing his haki, he tried to let out a small amount to knock only them out, but he'd overdone it however and had knocked Helmeppo out too. "Damn, I have to start training on controlling it properly again," he muttered. Dropping Helmeppo unceremoniously on the floor, he started running back from where he came from, there were no use taking him with him now anyway.

Down in the grounds, Coby had started trying to untie the ropes around Zoro's arms, "Y-You have to help Luffy, Zoro-san!"

"I don't think that will be necessary, anyway you're going to get yourself killed if you help me." Zoro shook his head, Luffy didn't need his help now, and these marines were small fries. Luffy could probably knock them all out with haki if he wanted to.

"I-I don't care, I-I have to do something," Coby stuttered as he was struggling with the ropes, "-i-it's just like Luffy said, some marines are bad, a-and I don't want to be like that."

Zoro could see the fire of determination in Coby's eyes, albeit small, it was still there. He knew the reason Coby was helping him, but he still had to get it affirmed, "Why are you helping me?"

"B-Because Helmeppo lied, h-he is going to execute you tomorrow." Coby stuttered. Zoro reckoned he was still somewhat afraid of him, but he was there trying to help him, and that was good enough for him.

"I know," Zoro grunted. He didn't bother hiding his lack of shock at what Coby had just said.

"Y-You did?" Coby looked up at him in shock, and then shook his head, "A-Anyway, that's why Luffy-san got really mad and punched him, a-and then he took off." Zoro could see that Coby's hands were shaking as he tried to untie him, but chose not to comment on it. "S-So now he's being chased b-by the marines, you have to h-help him."

Zoro nodded, "Yeah Luffy told me before he decided to invade the base," he used a split second and focused on locating Luffy inside the building, he wasn't in any danger as far as he could tell, but there were marines heading their way. _Luffy you better hurry up, I'm not dying here._

"Oh… b-but Zoro-san please help Luffy, I-I'm not asking you to become a pirate or anything, but…" Coby kept stuttering. Zoro didn't bother answering his pleadings however and just kept his gaze on the wall in front of him, his mind focusing on Luffy and the marines making their way down to the grounds. They didn't have much time left, and he knew that if Luffy was just a few seconds late, they'd die for sure. Coby had continued on with his monologue about how they had to help each other in order to survive this, but Zoro didn't bother paying any attention to it, instead he turned his head to the gate and focused on the marines rushing over to them.

"Stop right there!" a booming voice rang through the grounds. A horde of marines stood at attention aiming at then with rifles, and Morgan stood at the back holding up his axe-hand, probably to seem more intimidating. "You have committed an act of treason against me, for that you will die!"

Coby started shaking more than ever at that, how that was possible Zoro wasn't sure, but he chose to ignore it and instead kept his eyes on Morgan, surveying him with contempt.

Luffy had finally found the room, how he had missed it the first time was a mystery even to him, there was a large sign on the door with flowers surrounding it saying 'My room', but there was no time thinking about it, if he remembered correctly Zoro and Coby was about to get shot at, he needed to be quick. He ran over to where Zoro's katanas was placed against the wall and tied them to his back. He looked out the window, and he had been correct, there were a dozen marines aiming their weapons at Coby and Zoro, ready to fire. He grabbed hold of the windowsill and stretched his arms as he was walking backwards, he hoped he wouldn't overdo it and land in the wrong spot.

Down in the grounds Morgan had kept ranting on about his great power, and asked if Zoro and Luffy were conspiring to execute a coup d'état against him. Zoro had wanted to say yes to that, but that could make the marines fire sooner than planned; he needed to draw this out to give Luffy time. "I always fight my battles alone!" He glared at Morgan, "-unlike you, who cowers behind his lackeys, while they do all the fighting. It's no wonder you're still a low ranking marine." He spat at him. It might not have been the best way to draw this out, he realised after he had said it, but it couldn't be helped, Morgan was a lazy coward who deserved everything that was coming to him.

"Don't underestimate me, Roronoa Zoro! You have no idea of the incredible power I possess!" Morgan lowered his axe-hand in front of himself and started caressing it, as if that proved how strong he was. Zoro had wanted to laugh at that, remembering how every foe they met in East Blue and Paradise had always thought that because of some power they had, it had made them the strongest person alive. He knew that he wasn't the strongest, which was the reason he trained as hard as he did. It was always the over-confidence of their foes that brought about their demise every time. It was one of the qualities Zoro liked best about Luffy, he was never over-confident in that way, it was just that he was stubborn enough to believe he would kick their ass no matter what, at least until…

As he had been on a trip down memory lane, the marines had taken aim and was about to shoot. _Luffy if you let me die here, I'll come back and kill you!_

A second before the marines fired, a window shattered on the third floor and faster than a normal person could see, Luffy had propelled himself down into the grounds. He managed to land directly in front of the marines and took the bullets head on, he sighed internally, he had made it just in time. He smirked as the bullets stretched his skin, and he curved his back slightly to give them more momentum before he stood up and fired the bullets back at the marines. "Like that's gonna work on me!" He laughed.

One stray bullet soared past Morgan's face, scraping his chin. As awesome as it would have been to see Morgan get hit in the face, Luffy knew it would have ended up being a really boring fight if that had happened. He kept laughing, "Didn't expect that did you?"

Zoro let out a sigh of relief; he had wanted to yell at Luffy for making him worry. If he had been a second too late, everything would have gone to hell. Then he remembered he wasn't supposed to know about devil fruits and faked surprise, "What the fuck are you?"

Luffy looked back at him giving him his shit-eating grin, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who's gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy announced, giving Zoro a thumbs up. If Zoro had been able to he would have faceplamed so hard right now, _give it to Luffy to introduce himself like that_.

Zoro, still feigning ignorance, shook his head and looked at Luffy, "Huh? The Pirate King? Do you even know what you're saying?" After having heard Luffy tell the world what he was planning on becoming, more often than not, it was hard acting surprised at those words.

"Of course I know what I'm saying," Luffy laughed. They both registered the shock on all the marines' faces and the silent gasps they were letting out. Coby on the other hand had come out of his initial shock and looked at Luffy in adoration.

"I was surprised, too, at first," Coby admitted, "-but Luffy-san really is serious about it." He started smiling and both Zoro and Luffy saw the fire in Coby's eyes, he was starting to believe in himself, even if it was feeble, they both internally smiled at it. "Luffy-san really believes that he can do it, finding the greatest treasure in the world, the One Piece!"

Luffy kept smiling his shit-eating grin, mostly because Coby was starting to find his courage again. He turned to Zoro holding the katanas in front of himself, "Here, I got your katanas for you!" He continued smiling, "-you use three, right?"

"Yeah I do." Zoro smirked back. _Sneaky bastard, changing the conversation like that, then I'll have some fun too,_ "-how do you know of my three-sword style?"

Luffy, having not thought that Zoro would ask about that, tried thinking of an answer. He knew that he was a terrible liar, _but a half-truth isn't really lying is it?_ "When I found onion heads room, I saw three katanas together, so I took them all with me, thinking they were all yours." It wasn't really a lie; the first time he went to find Zoro's katanas he did think something along those lines. "Here take them, but know that if you fight against the marines now, you'll be an outlaw like me." Luffy smirked at him, "-or do you prefer getting killed by these weaklings who call themselves marines?"

Zoro smirked back, "You really are the son of the devil, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question, more of stating a fact, seeing as Luffy was the son of the worlds most wanted criminal after all. "I don't have a choice then do I? I'd rather fight alongside you and become a pirate, than die here. Count me in as becoming your crew member." He knew what becoming Luffy's nakama meant now, and he was looking forward to all the crazy shit they would get themselves into once again, except for a few of the fights they were most likely to get themselves into again, he just hoped they were able to stop the final one from happening again.

Luffy was happier than he had been in a long time, he had managed it, he didn't screw it up, and now Zoro was his nakama again. "YEAH! That's great!" He shouted as he did a victory dance, still holding Zoro's katanas.

Zoro looked over at the marines; they were getting up from the ground again. "Will you stop celebrating and untie me yet!" Zoro screamed at him. As much as he wanted to celebrate too, they had some marines to beat up. Speaking of which, the marines had apparently gotten out of their shocked states, and Morgan had gone into a monologue about the devil fruits, listing both Ace's and Whitebeard's fruits as he did so, probably not even knowing who they were.

Luffy tried again, like last time, to untie Zoro's ropes, but again failing at it which only served to tighten them even more. Zoro should have known it was going to happen, and yelled at him to stop screwing around and just hand him his katanas already. _Seriously Luffy, should't you have remembered that you wouldn't be able to untie them_?

Morgan, having finished with his monologue ordered his men to attack them with blades, seeing as bullets would be useless. The marines charged forward, and Zoro was losing his patience, "For fuck sake Luffy, just give me my damn katanas and I'll cut myself out of these ropes!" He continued to yell at him.

Luffy realizing that he wouldn't be able to get Zoro out of his bonds yet again, thrust a sword into each of Zoro's hands. In one swift motion Zoro cut himself free and sighed in relief, _about damn time_. He jumped in front of the marines and blocked each blade of the charging marines, stopping them in their tracks. "Move and you're dead!" He growled at them, looking more like the devil Luffy had known for years. Luffy just smiled at the scene in front of him, Coby on the other hand, had stars in his eyes.

As Zoro stood there a cloud above them drifted in front of the sun, _fantastic timing, what is this? Faiths way of adding dramatic effect?_ Zoro chuckled and shook his head at his own thoughts, before he prepared to go into his monologue. "I gave you my word to become a pirate, as you said yourself, by attacking the marines now I'll be an outlaw like you, and that's fine by me. But let me make one thing clear! I have my own agenda, to become the world's greatest swordsman! If you do anything that gets in the way of that, you'll meet your end by the tip of this blade!" He announced it proudly without hesitation, he was going to make it or die trying! But he had another agenda, too, he didn't know how long he had had it, but he was going to make Luffy the Pirate King, and if Luffy by some miracle died again, he would hunt down that old man and make him send them back, as many times as it took for them all to succeed. _If Luffy doesn't become Pirate King, my ambition to become the worlds best isn't worth shit._

"The world's greatest swordsman?" Luffy whistled impressed, even though he had heard it before, Zoro's conviction still awed him to this day. "That's perfect! I wouldn't expect anything else from the first mate of the future Pirate King." He smiled, there was nothing stopping Zoro this time around. _I will have to teach him about haki soon though_ , he mused. Then a thought came over him, _even if Zoro is able to learn it quickly, he's still probably going to lose against Mihawk like last time,_ he thought sombrely, _that's going to be hard to watch_.

"You got that right!" Zoro smirked around the hilt of Wado, "-now, I don't care about what people think about me, the one thing that matters is that my name will be known across the world!" _And even in heaven itself,_ Zoro finished in his thoughts, as at that moment Morgan had finally had enough of their apparent 'getting to know each other' conversation, "Quit slacking off and kill them already!" he shouted at his men, who had been frozen in fear the entire time, listening to the two powerhouses having their chat. Morgan's booming voice seemed to frighten them even more however, and Luffy took that as his cue to get the fight over with. "Zoro, duck!" he smirked, and Zoro did so instinctively. Luffy thrust his foot back and screamed "Gomu-Gomu-no Muchi!" kicking every single marine in the side, sending them flying back towards Morgan, who screamed in anger at the apparent ease in which the man with the strawhat beat his men.

Zoro got up from where he had been crouching, and realised that Luffy never did answer him about what he was, not that he needed to know really, but it might be suspicious if he didn't ask about it, or looked at least a little bit surprised that a man he had just met, stretched in ways that shouldn't be possible for a normal human being. "Hey, you never told me what the hell you are!"

Luffy wiggled his foot back and forth, he hadn't put too much force into the muchi, but it had still been slightly harder than the last time. He hadn't wanted to kill the marines, it wasn't their fault their commander was a big pile of crap, and they were just following orders after all. "I ate the Gomu Gomu fruit." He said smiling. Again he was amused by the fact that people in East Blue had never seen, let alone heard about devil fruits before.

Several of the marines murmured about his abilities behind him, and seemed even more scared of him now, probably thinking he was a monster, Zoro just smirked at that. They had no idea how right they were.

Morgan had veins popping out on his forehead in anger, "MARINES! All of you who uttered words of cowardice, I order you to shoot yourself in the head! I will not permit such weakness in my division!" He bellowed.

Luffy and Zoro narrowed their eyes at Morgan, each one hating the man more than ever before. "Fucking scum!" Zoro growled, and got ready to pounce forward to kick his ass, but Luffy was way ahead of him. He ran faster than the normal eye could see, and Zoro smirked to himself, he wasn't even using soru. Luffy ran past the marines like a flash and threw his punch towards Morgan, who blocked it with his axe-hand. Luffy cursed himself, if he had used armament, that thing would have shattered.

Zoro took Wado out of his mouth and sheathed it; Luffy was faster and stronger than before that was for sure, but he couldn't help but wonder why Luffy didn't just shatter the axe-hand with that punch. Of course he knew that that would have differed from the last time greatly, but still, he couldn't help wondering if Luffy was holding back.

"A little brat like you shouldn't dare defy me!" Morgan yelled as he threw his coat off. "I am Lieutenant Commander AXE-HAND MORGAN!" He bellowed at Luffy, who wasn't fazed at all.

"And I'm Luffy!" he said getting into his fighting stance, "-nice to meet you," he continued sarcastically. That apparently just enraged Morgan even more and he lunged at Luffy, trying to cut him, but Luffy had seen the attack long before it hit and jumped out of the way. Morgan turned around and brought his axe-hand vertically down at where Luffy was standing, but as soon as the blade was lowered Luffy again jumped out of the way and the axe hit the ground creating a small ravine in its wake. "Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing, that's dangerous." Luffy called at him from above, before he smashed both his feet into his face, knocking him to the ground creating a crater where it hit. Luffy was reminded of when he had beaten that pacifista when he had gotten back to Sabody after those two years, though he had to admit that had been cooler than now.

He landed beside Morgan who was groaning, but was still trying to get up. "You brat!" he spat blood out of his mouth. Luffy was a bit surprised he was getting up again so soon, but he reckoned that the bastards head was so thick it would take more than one blow to it to finish him off. He propelled himself forward trying to get a good shot in on his stomach when Morgan threw his axe-hand down on him once more. "Now, DIE!" Morgan screamed at him. Luffy twisted in the air, dodging the blade, "Like hell!" he laughed back, before he kicked his face in while doing a somersault to land safely on the ground again.

He moved over to Morgan who was still on the ground, and stepped over him so he could get a good grasp on his shirt. He lifted him up so he could look him straight in the eyes. He was so angry he had to do everything in his power to not let any haki slip out, "You're no fucking marine!" He spat as he punched him squarely in the face, breaking his nose. The force of Luffy's fist knocked his head into the ground again, but Luffy lifted him up again, "You're just a power hungry piece of crap!" Another hit to the face, again Luffy lifted him up, "You're the reason the marines are ruining this world!" Another punch, "I..." and another, "HATE…" and another, "PEOPLE…" and another, "LIKE…" and another, "YOU…" and another.

He would have continued if a nasal voice suddenly didn't scream at him, "Hey strawhat! STOP! Look what I'm doing!"

He didn't look up from where he was holding a bloody and on the brink of passing out, Morgan in his hand, raising his other fist to throw another punch. Helmeppo was standing there with a gun pointed at Coby's head, visibly shaking; Luffy knew it was just empty threats.

Zoro, too, knew it was empty threats, but he was afraid Luffy might actually kill Morgan if he kept hitting him, and Zoro silently wanted a chance to get in on the action as well. "Oi, Luffy." He called out gaining Luffy's attention.

Luffy let go of Morgans shirt so he fell back on the ground, he slowly raised his head and glared at Helmeppo, who looked ready to piss his pants.

"I-If you don't want him to die, y-you better b-back off! I-If you do anything, I-I'll shoot!" Helmeppo yelled, though it sounded more like a girlish screech than anything. Coby, however looked like he believed what Helmeppo just said and looked ready to piss his pants, too. Luffy smiled at him, _Come on Coby; show me that determination of yours._ It seemed to work as Coby, though still shaking like a leaf, stopped biting his lip as the fire of determination was getting back into his eyes.

"Luffy-san!" He yelled, his voice not quivering like before, "-don't hold back, I don't care if I die! Just beat these guys!"

Luffy just smiled wider, _finally there it is!_ "Of course I will!" He put up his arm ready to punch, "-just give it up, you sorry excuse of a son. Coby is getting serious." He stepped over Morgan who was still on the ground and started walking towards Helmeppo, who was shaking more than ever. Zoro watched on with a fond smile on his face, _Coby is finally getting ready to follow his dream, good_.

"D-Don't move!" Helmeppo screamed, but Luffy kept walking. "I-I'll kill him!" He tried screaming again, but Luffy tuned him out. He had noticed that Morgan had gotten up from the ground again, and he took a quick glance at Zoro, who was already in fighting position. As Zoro looked towards Luffy their eyes met for a fraction of a second, and a silent agreement was made between them. It hadn't really been necessary, but it was mostly out of instinct for both of them. Then Luffy thrust his fist back, just as Morgan was about to strike him over the head again, "Gomu-Gomu-no Pistol!" he yelled and sent his fist flying into Helmeppo's face, though again trying to hold back, remembering that he was going to become Coby's friend in the future.

Zoro had jumped forward quicker than anyone could see, and used a silent Onigiri to slash through Morgans chest when he was inches away from cleaving Luffy in half, the blade stopping right over his captains head. He had tried to hold back slightly, he knew Luffy wasn't one for killing his foes, so he had been trying to uphold the same code as his captain, only killing when no other option was available. Sure he had killed others before, mostly marines and weak pirates that had gotten in the crossfire of their fights, but that had mostly been collateral damage. He never really liked killing someone he deemed a worthy foe. It was always possible to defeat someone without killing them.

"Nice Zoro!" Luffy said smiling as Morgan fell to the ground, finally unconscious and defeated.

"My pleasure Captain!" Zoro smirked back, he then looked at Morgan, who was now lying in a pool of his own blood, broken and badly beaten, it was a nice view he agreed with himself. Then he looked over at the marines still standing, having been too scared to join in on the fray, "-if anyone else wants to go, we're all for it." He called out to them. He knew they wouldn't, but it was fun watching them squirm.

When it finally dawned on the marines what had happened, they threw their hats and someone even their blades in the air, shouting cries of joy.

Luffy just stared at them, a mix of sympathy and resentment towards them as they cheered for the defeat of their commander. He knew they had been terrified of him, as he had killed a lot of his men for nothing in the past, and for that he was sympathetic towards them; however it was for that exact reason he despised them, they could have trained harder and taken him out themselves, instead of living like this. He looked over at Zoro who was on the brink of fainting, and walked over to him as he was about to fall, planning on catching him. But just as he reached him, he instead fell to the ground himself clutching his chest as it suddenly had erupted in pain once again. He clenched his teeth together as to not let out a scream that was threatening to tear from his throat, _fuck! Not again!_

Coby had come running over, a terrified expression on his face, "Luffy! Zoro! Are you okay?"

Zoro, though thoroughly weak now, saw to his horror Luffy crumple to a heap on the ground next to him, his eyes tightly shut and his jaw clenched, "Shit! Luffy! What's going on?" He stared at his captain in shock, he'd never seen Luffy act like this, no matter how badly injured he'd been he'd never collapsed like this. He bent down beside him, unsure what to do as Luffy writhed on the ground clutching his chest, his breathing ragged as he was having trouble breathing properly, "Come on Luffy, snap out of it damn it."

Luffy heard, as of far away, Zoro's voice screaming at him, _Zoro?_ The pain in his chest was excruciating, _w_ _hy is Zoro here?_ He tried to take a breath, but it was hard, Zoro was screaming at him again, and he could hear it a little clearer this time. He tried to take a deep breath again, it was a bit easier, but still the pain persisted. "Z-Zoro?" he rasped out, trying to open his eyes, everything was blurry around him. "F-fuck!"

Zoro stared at Luffy, unable to do anything as he watched as he fought whatever pain he was in, "Luffy! What the hell is going on?" he screamed again, he was panicking now, something was wrong with Luffy, was this because he'd sent them back in time? Was this his fault? _Shit!_

Luffy tried to focus on Zoro, using him as an anchor to drag himself back to the world again, the pain was slowly receding and he was starting to breathe more freely again, "Fuck! I hate this shit!" He rasped out again as he'd opened his eyes fully. Things were slowly starting to come into focus again, and he saw the terrified look on Zoro's face and felt shame wash over him, he had hoped he was wrong about the pain coming after he'd had a fight, but by the looks of it, it apparently got worse depending on the intensity of the fight. He didn't want Zoro to see him like this, what if he didn't want to be a part of his crew anymore because of this? Would he see him as weak if he collapsed after every fight? "Fuck, I'm sorry Zoro," he tried to sit up, but his head was spinning so badly he gave up and let his head fall to the ground again, "I-it happens sometimes, but I'm fine," he said through harsh breaths as he tried to get himself under control again.

"What do you mean it happens sometimes?" Zoro felt numb, _is this my fault, did I really do this to him?_ He didn't know what to do, Luffy was obviously not fine, he was in pain, and pretty severe pain too.

"It's nothing, honestly, I just..." he took a few deep breaths while massaging his chest, trying to soothe it as the pain had finally receded into a dull ache, "I just kinda get this pain in my chest sometimes, but it's okay, it goes away pretty quickly." He sat up slowly, relieved that his head wasn't spinning so much now, "let's go get some food now, okay?"

* * *

 **AN:** _Thanks for reading, as always please follow/fav and if you want please leave a review. Even if I don't answer you, know that I read all of them and cherish them greatly._


	6. Why didn't you tell me!

**AN:** _Okay, so I've finally come around to revising this chapter. I've removed some things from the chapter that didn't fit the story right now, and added some other stuff to make it follow more with the theme I'm going for, and to make it match with the previous chapters. Also, I've tried to make it flow a little better, not sure if I'm fully satisfied with it though. [12.03.17]_

 _I know it's taken me long enough, but with work and my illness, it's been hard to find the time and energy to continue writing. But it's finally here now, and I've started working on chapter 7 again, and hopefully I'll be able to finish it this time so that I can finally move on to the next arcs._

 _Thanks again for all your support, you guys are the best!_

 **Disclaimer:** _I do NOT own One Piece, I only like to borrow characters and plotlines from Oda, and I am not making money from writing this._

 **Try and Try Again**

 **Chapter 6 – Why didn't you tell me!**

Nami had been lurking around the marine base for some time, checking everywhere for some information they didn't already know, so far she was coming up empty. As she was on her way to Morgan's office, she was nearly caught by pair of marines. Suddenly she was reminded of the marines they fought against during the battle against Sakazuki, and she had to remind herself that these marines were not as strong as them, and that she didn't have to be afraid of these marines. She quickly knocked them out with her wooden staff and tied them up. She looked at her wooden staff in disdain; _I'm so going to get Usopp to make my clima tact the moment we leave Syrup Village; I don't care how much that changes the future. I'm not going through the rest of East Blue and the beginning of Paradise without it. She shook her head, but what if I'm the only one back? Luffy didn't seem to recognise me in that restaurant, but then again, he did knock that Helmeppo guy through the wall, not just into like last time. I guess I'll just have to go to Orange Town and see what happens then._

"Now just be good boys and stay here," she cooed at the marines currently sitting on the floor with a rope firmly wrapped around them. Nami was glad to see that her knot work hadn't gotten rusty after so long, though it hadn't been that long at all if one would be go by the time she was in right now, but it had felt like a long time.

She finally made her way into Morgan's office and didn't even bother to look in the safe, knowing that there wouldn't be anything else but a note saying that Buggy had stolen the chart, Seriously, how much of an idiot do you have to be to leave a note saying you stole it? She then went on to check every shelf, cabinet and drawer for anything noteworthy; there was a letter from HQ about Vice-Admiral Garp visiting East Blue during the coming month, So that's how Coby managed to go to Grand Line with Luffy's grandfather. There were also some wanted posters, and a lot of books of how to best practice absolute justice, Nami had personally wanted to burn those books, but didn't have the time for it now.

After a final sweep of the room, she quickly got out from the office and sneaked out of the base again, she was a bit disappointed that she hadn't found anything of real importance, not that she had really expected there to be anything in the first place though. Morgan is probably one of those who doesn't care about anything else but himself, she scrunched her nose up in disgust at that thought.

* * *

"Man I'm stuffed!" Zoro exclaimed as he leaned back in his chair, having devoured three days' worth of food. He looked over at Luffy who was sitting on the other side of the table, still devouring everything in sight. He frowned at him, he didn't know what to think after he'd seen him collapse earlier, Luffy had said that it wasn't a big deal and that it happened sometimes, but how could it not be a big deal, Luffy had never done that before, and he was sure that it was because he'd sent them back to the past. The old man had said that Luffy had to deal with the repercussions of dying, but he'd thought it meant mentally dealing with it, not physically. He felt shame wash over himself again, he was the reason Luffy was now acting like nothing was wrong. And what did he mean about it happening sometimes? Would he collapse like that after every fight, or was it more than that? He needed to talk to him about it, but he knew that he couldn't do it now, Luffy needed to know the truth first.

"How come you can eat so much?" he asked instead, as Coby was sitting at the bar within earshot, and he'd reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to really know Luffy at this time, so he went with the only natural question he could think of in this situation.

"Oh, you're done already?" Luffy said between mouthfuls. He hadn't really had a full meal since he'd left his village, only snacks along the way, which hadn't been nearly filling enough. "Besides, this food is good, right Coby?"

Coby scratched his neck and looked away in shame. "I'm sorry, I ate some too," he apologised to Ririka, Rika's mother, who was smiling fondly at the odd couple of guys. "Don't worry about it, you helped save us, so eat as much as you like."

Zoro shook his head at that. _Oh, they're so going to end up bankrupt_.

Rika was bouncing a little where she stood. "You guys are so cool!" she looked at Luffy in adoration, who was still eating, slowly expanding his stomach to unnatural proportions. "Of course we are," he laughed. "We have to be if we're going to conquer the Grand Line," Rika was on the verge of having stars in her eyes at that, and Luffy looked over at Zoro and smiled, still sporting hamster cheeks full of food, "- and now that I've got a crewmember, we're all set."

If it hadn't been for the fact that this was Luffy, Zoro would have laughed his ass off over how stupid he looked right now. Still, the thought of him collapsing was on his mind, making it a little hard to find the humour in the situation, but he knew he needed to put that aside for now as he needed this to go a certain way, if they were going to keep to the schedule and not mess things up that is. He'd noticed that Luffy hadn't said anything about him being the first one to join the crew however; _okay, this might be a little fun_. "If we're all set, you probably have a crew already right? So how big is it?" Zoro couldn't help smirking a little, but he hid it by taking a gulp of the sake he was drinking.

Luffy looked at him quizzically, hadn't Zoro realised he was the first to join? "Nope, you're the first!" he said smiling as he thought of the rest of the crew, longing to meet them all again.

Zoro played along and feigned shock. "What? So…" he flipped his finger between himself and Luffy indicating the both of them, he remembered well what he had thought last time; _I'm so screwed_. Now though, he knew what he was getting himself into, and he was looking forward to some of the shit they were going to do along the way. Even if East Blue was going to be a breeze, he at least had Mihawk to look forward to.

"Yep, just me and you!" Luffy laughed, "- at least for now."

Zoro, still trying to maintain his 'blissfully unaware' state, tried looking at Luffy like he had just grown two heads. "Is it even possible to be called a crew if we're just two people?"

"I don't care, besides we're strong aren't we?" Luffy knew neither of them were as strong as he would like them to be, but they were still stronger than everyone in East Blue, and as of now they were definitely a crew. What he had to do now though, was find the rest of their nakama.

Zoro snorted, _I can never understand his logic at times_. He shook his head. "Sure, if you say so," he wondered if Luffy had gotten there in that same dinghy as last time, if so it would take ages for them to reach the next island, if they managed to find it at all. "So do you have a ship at least?"

Luffy nodded his head, still eating. "Yeah, it's down there," he pointed out the window to a little dinghy that was tied to the dock, it was sorry excuse for a ship, even he could admit that, but they would get Merry soon he reasoned.

Zoro walked over to the window and looked down at the dock. "That little thing?" he said unimpressed, before he threw his head back and laughed for real, for the first time in what seemed like ages, just like before. _You never change do you, Luffy?_

Luffy smiled, it was good to hear Zoro laugh again. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually heard Zoro laugh like that, with real feelings and life back in his eyes. "We'll get a real ship soon, trust me," he said fondly, they would take better care of Merry this time around, he promised himself, "- and an awesome Jolly Roger!" he said as an afterthought and nodded.

Zoro facepalmed, even if he knew they would get their Going Merry after going to Usopp's island, Luffy's navigation skills were shit, _and so are mine_ , he added even though he would never admit to it.

Coby looked at Zoro sympathetically. "I have a theory that Luffy-san isn't one for planning ahead."

 _Don't I know it,_ Zoro sighed. "And I chose to follow this guy…" Even though Luffy was the only captain he could ever follow, he did sometimes wonder why he had joined his band of misfits in the first place; sometimes he acted more like a little kid than as a captain.

"So where are you going next?" Rika asked Luffy, looking up at him like he was a big brother to her.

Luffy beamed at her, "First we're going to gather up some more nakama, and then we're going to the Grand Line of course!" they needed to get Nami, Usopp and Sanji before heading off. "I think 3 more nakama should be enough."

Coby spit out his drink at that. "WHAT? You're going there with only five people? Are you insane? That's suicide!"

Rika looked questioningly at Coby. "Is it really that dangerous to go to the Grand Line?"

Coby was clutching his glass, looking terrified and shaking ever so slightly. "Of course it is! We all know how this world looks right, how it's divided by a continent stretching all the way around the world, which is known as the Red Line, and how there is an ocean going around the world opposite the Red Line known as the Grand Line, which again divides the rest of the world into the four Blues. Because of the way Grand Line is stretching around the world like it is, it's said to cause terrible storms and unimaginable terrors across the sea, it's supposed to be so hard to navigate that countless of people die or disappear from there every year. No one comes back after going there, it's the reason it's known as the pirate's graveyard."

Both Zoro and Luffy shook their head at what Coby was saying. What had made it so ridiculous was that Coby was mostly talking about Paradise, like it was a death sentence just arriving there. Paradise was a breeze compared to New World that was for sure. "I don't need any more nakama than that, besides we're probably going to get more nakama while we're sailing there anyway." Luffy laughed, "- and One Piece is there, so that's where we're going."

Zoro nodded and sat back in his chair again. "Sounds like fun to me," he smirked. It had probably been madness going to Grand Line with only five people last time, with what little knowledge they had back then. But when you're travelling with Luffy practically every day would end up in a shitstorm of madness and insanity anyway.

Coby, who was apparently still terrified of the mere thought of going to Grand Line, jumped down from his chair, and started flailing his hands around. "What? How can you say that so calmly, Zoro-san?"

Zoro, still smirking, looked at him. "You're not the one going there, so what do you care?" Well, he'll be going there soon enough though, but he doesn't need to know that.

Coby was apparently taken aback by that and looked at the floor. "Well… No… But I worry about you guys okay! Am I not allowed to be worried?" he gingerly raised his head again, and looked between Zoro and Luffy. "I've haven't know Luffy-san for long, but we're still friends, right?"

Luffy nodded and grinned. "Of course we are! Even if we're on opposite ends of the law, we're always going to be friends." Coby was the first person he met on his journey, and so that friendship was one he would always cherish, no matter what happened.

Coby smiled timidly and looked at the floor again, clearly relieved that Luffy said they would still be friends, even after he would became a marine. "I never had any friends growing up… no one ever stood up for me, so I never did it either… But, when I met you guys I learned that it's possible to follow ones dreams," he looked up at them again; with more determination and with the fire back in his eyes, "- so I'm going to follow mine now, I'll definitely become a good marine!"

Both Luffy and Zoro smiled fondly at him, relieved that he was finally beginning to build up his courage more and more, but he still had a way to go yet before he would be completely ready. Zoro knew the security in East Blue was terrible, but the fact still remained that he had been on a pirate ship for some years, and if Coby really wanted to become a marine he had to be ready to defend himself against accusations of his piracy. "You should worry more about yourself than us, if the marines find out about your time as a pirate, even if you were a slave, you might not be able to join." he didn't mean for it to scare Coby, but he had to be realistic here.

Coby seemed ready to piss his pants at that. "Then what do I do…" but before he could finish, the door opened and a couple of marines entered the building, gaining their attention. The marine in front, wore an aura of confidence, and both Zoro and Luffy knew at once that this was the marine in charge now. "Is it true you are pirates?" the marine looked between the three of them.

"Yep, we are," Luffy nodded. _I was wondering when they would show up, now how do I get Coby to join them without having to fight?_

The marine looked at them sadly, like he didn't want to do what he was about to do. "You helped save our town, and for that we are eternally grateful. But the fact still remains that you identify yourselves as pirates, and this town is protected by the laws of the world government," he straightened his cap, but Luffy and Zoro knew he was hiding his shame. "We must ask you to leave this town at once, but because we are indebted to you for ending Morgan's tyranny we will not contact HQ about your affiliations with this town."

There was an uproar from the townspeople at this, but Luffy and Zoro knew the marines had no choice, they didn't have a problem with the world government finding out about them now, but they did prefer not to get on their radar until after beating Arlong. So they both stood up and made to leave, giving their thanks to Ririka for the food on their way. Luffy who was still sporting an unnatural large belly from eating so much, took this as a chance to regain some strength and quickly broke down all the food and redirected all the nutrients to his body, making him just as slim as he was before, shocking everyone around them. "Shishishi, that's better," he grinned, and then sighed in relief as it hadn't caused his chest to erupt in pain again, he'd been afraid that it might, since he was using his rubber abilities, almost in the same way he would do gear second. He wasn't sure it meant he could start using some of his powers again though, but he really didn't dare try using them again now, he'd wait until Grand Line at least, hopefully Chopper could help him then.

Zoro just shook his head, he would never get used to that, but he had no time to dwell on it and started to make his way to the door. "Let's go," he said gruffly.

As he and Luffy walked towards the door, Coby stood still where he was, looking unsure of what to do. The marine in charge looked at him. "Aren't you their nakama, too?"

Coby paled even more at that. Luffy wanted to shake his head; he didn't want to fight with Coby again. When the marine didn't get an answer from Coby he turned to Luffy and asked him the same, the gears in Luffy's head was turning, what do I do?

Zoro caught on that Luffy was struggling, having an idea that Luffy didn't want to fight with Coby again. "That guy?" he jerked his thumb in Coby's direction. "No, from what I know he was a slave and my captain here freed him." he hoped it would be enough to give Coby that extra push.

The marine didn't look convinced. "A slave? Here in East Blue?" Luffy silently thanked Zoro for the distraction. "Yeah, Coby here wants to be a marine, but because he was taken as a slave by a pirate that looked like a stranded whale, he's too afraid to enlist." Luffy gave Coby his trademark shit-eating grin; Come on Coby, half the job is done; now it's all up to you.

Coby looked speechless, but balled his fists in determination. Luffy looked at the marine in charge, he wasn't convinced yet, then he remembered something and fished out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Hey marine guy, when grandpa gets here can you give this to him?" the marine looked at him completely baffled, "Your grandpa?"

Luffy nodded, still grinning, "Yeah he's a marine and his name is Garp, I think he's coming here soon."

Zoro had to suppress the urge to facepalm, as the entire restaurant and all the people outside screamed in shock, "WHAT?"

Luffy looked around, realizing that it might not have been the best place to drop a bomb like that, especially not in front of the entire town, "Oh yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that, so don't tell anyone else ok? Anyway, we're going now, take care!"

The people were still so baffled that they let them pass without a word, creating a path for them through the throng of people that had gathered outside. Inside, Coby was slowly getting over his shock, and bowed in front of the marine and shouted on top of his lungs to please let him enlist. Both Luffy and Zoro smiled when they heard him, pleased that he finally was on his way to fulfil his dream.

Zoro was shaking his head, "You think it was enough to make Coby able to enlist?"

Last time Luffy had made sure that the marines understood that Coby wasn't one of them, this time they hadn't done that, but Luffy just shrugged, "I don't know, we did what we could; the rest is up to Coby." he had a feeling that no matter what they had done, that note would certainly make Coby able to join.

Zoro nodded. "Well whatever happens, it's out of our hands now. Anyway, this is not such a bad way to leave, being chased out of town," he chuckled. It's wouldn't be the last time that would happen.

Luffy just laughed, "I guess that's true."

They jumped into the dinghy, and as they were in the process of untying it from the dock; they heard Coby running down the street, "Luffy-san!" They both turned to see Coby, Ririka and Rika standing there wanting to see them off. Coby saluted them, in proper marine fashion, "Thank you for all that you've done for me, this marine will never forget it!"

Zoro shook his head, "Since when does a marine thank a pirate? Don't make a habit of it Coby; it will get you into trouble one day." Coby would have to be careful about talking about his affiliation with them; being friends with pirates was seen as serious crime in the eyes of the higher-ups in the marines, and being friends with Luffy in the future, geez, he might actually end up dead.

"I won't!" Coby screamed back at them as they unfurled the sail and took off. Luffy had been laughing the entire time, "Good luck Coby, we'll see you again one day!" he screamed back, as the entire marine division came down to the dock and saluted them as well.

The sun was setting and Zoro realised they would have to sail through the night; thankfully neither of them would have to keep watch, as there wouldn't be any dangers in these waters yet. He was glad to finally be on the ocean again, as weird as it seemed, he had missed it. Then he remembered something, "Hey Luffy? What was that note you gave the marines?"

Luffy looked at him, "Nothing important really, just a note for gramp's when he gets here."

Zoro wasn't sure if he was so pleased about that, but decided not to care, whatever Luffy did that could change the future, they would take it head on when the repercussions happened.

While Zoro had been musing over Luffy's antics, Luffy had walked over to the front of the dinghy and held onto his hat so it wouldn't fly off. He laughed as he thought of going on his adventure all over again. "All right! First part of our voyage is complete, now onward to greater things!" _Now our next stop is finding Nami, and beating the crap out of red-nose, that'll be fun._

"It's going to be one hell of an adventure!" Zoro chuckled, though he was thinking of everything they had to do now, they were on a tight schedule, and he didn't want to think about what could happen if they screwed it up. Flashes from the battle suddenly flashed through his mind, he closed his eyes for a brief second and suppressed them once again.

Luffy looked up to the sky, he would make it this time, "I'm going to become the Pirate King!" he yelled to the heavens, with more determination than ever. It had become like a mantra to him, to keep himself from losing his goal, and to keep fighting no matter what.

Zoro smiled at that, _it's good to see that he's more determined than ever, even after everything that's happened and despite the pain he must be in._ He wondered if he should tell him now, but he was unsure how to go about it, besides it was getting late, and even though he was getting tired, he didn't dare go to sleep, sleeping meant letting his guard down, and he didn't want to imagine what could happen then. _I'll tell him in the morning, gotta find a way to break the news to him_.

* * *

Nami had been travelling the whole night on the little dinghy she had stolen back at the cruise ship, it wasn't unusual for her to travel like that, but this time it had been different, as much as she had wanted to get some sleep she couldn't. She had been lying on the floor in the dinghy and looked at the stars overhead, trying to count them to keep her mind occupied from the memories that threatened to overwhelm her once again. She also had a deadline to uphold, but she couldn't arrive too early either. She needed to get to Orange Town before Luffy and Zoro arrived so she could steal the chart to Grand Line, get caught and run, and then hopefully Luffy would fall from the sky again, rescuing her, if her timing was off she could be in a lot of trouble.

A little after dawn she spotted one of buggy's boats with three of his goons in it; she could practically smell the loot on their boat. She didn't really need it to buy her village this time, but she'd be mad to give up free money. As her boat had caught a good tailwind she quickly caught up to the other boat, and she hung herself over the rim, faking being exhausted, which to her surprise she wasn't at all, even without sleep for close to two days now. Of course the three idiots fell for it, and she smirked to herself, works like a charm every time.

She offered them a treasure chest for their trouble, and while they were busy working on opening it she quickly jumped over to the other boat, careful to bring her own loot with her without being noticed. She could probably have knocked them out with her staff, but this was much more fun. When the idiots finally managed to get the chest open and a jack-in-the-box panda jumped out at them, she was already well on her way in their boat.

"Sorry, but I'll be taking your ship now. Take care and watch out for the storm heading your way." She laughed and shouted back at them, she knew there would be a freak storm heading that way, and they were smack down in the middle of it. It was almost like she had used her clima-tact on them; she couldn't help but love how the weather was mostly in her favour while she was in East Blue.

Just a few moments after, the storm arrived. The little boat with the three lackeys capsized, and she laughed, the whole scenario was like something that would happen in Grand Line. She reckoned it was probably a stray storm that had formed in the Calmbelt and had made its way into East Blue.

* * *

Zoro hadn't been able to sleep at all during the night, going between flashbacks and cold sweats, and several times he'd had to splash some seawater in his face to calm himself down. Luffy had also been mumbling in his sleep about Sakazuki and Ace, and sometimes also gritted his teeth and sucked in a hard breath, which Zoro was sure, was from pain. It hadn't really made the night any easier to say the least. The times he had moments of clarity in his head though, he had tried to figure out how to break the news to Luffy about him being back too, but so far he hadn't found a good way to explain how and why they had been sent back in time.

Luffy had woken up a little after dawn and immediately shouted for food, which they didn't have any more left of. "I'm so hungry…" he whined as he hung over the rim of the boat and looked into the ocean below them.

Zoro looked up from where he sat, he had to do it now or he wouldn't have a chance before that bird showed up. "Listen Luffy, there's something I have to tell you…" That got Luffy's attention and he looked up from where he was hunched over the rim. "I probably should have told you this earlier, but I couldn't because... well because I couldn't risk us being overheard, alright," he scratched his neck, still wondering how to go about what he was about to tell his captain, if it hurt thinking about it, talking about it would probably be ten times worse.

Luffy looked at him questioningly, Zoro never sounded unsure of himself, "O-Okay, not sure I understand why though, but shoot."

Zoro took a deep breath, he didn't have a choice now, he just had to do it and barrel through the pain, "I don't know if you noticed, but I also got sent back in time."

That, Luffy hadn't expected. "What? You, too?" Then it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he sighed, "Thank god, now I don't have to pretend anymore." He did wonder why Zoro hadn't said anything though; it would have made the whole ordeal at Shells Town so much easier.

Zoro felt a twinge of guilt for having waited so long to tell him about all of this, but he'd had his reasons. "Yeah I know, but you see the truth is…" he hesitated slightly, unsure of what he was about to tell Luffy next, but it needed to be said, "- I'm the one who sent us back in time, and the reason I couldn't tell you before, was because the old man told me to keep my mouth shut about it around everyone else but the crew." The old man had warned him about talking about it around others, but it had been his idea not to tell Luffy about him and the others having been sent back, too.

Luffy nodded slowly, indicating he was paying attention to what Zoro was saying, "I'm not sure I understand but ok, but why though? What did you do?" he had been wondering how and why he had been sent back in time, the old man had just said 'at the wish of a friend', but he hadn't connected any of it until now.

Zoro looked at the sky, not wanting to look at his captain while telling him what had happened, "Well I didn't really do anything. It was after you… died." he paused as the image of a broken and burned Luffy laid on the ground before him again, and the smell of burnt rubber which hadn't really faded, came back so strongly he had to fight the bile rising in his throat. He took a deep breath to steady himself, "- me and the shit cook realised we had no chance in hell to beat the magma freak, so we managed to find the rest of the crew and get the hell out of there before any more of us died." He cringed and shut his eyes as the memories assaulted him at a rapid pace, how they had managed to find everyone, most of them on the verge of death, too. How they had carried most of them, while running away from the horde of marines. How Nami, who was too weak to stand up, had shouted out orders to the rest of them, and had barely gotten them out of harm's way, before they were able to flee from the marines using the last of their cola to do a coup de burst. With his eyes still closed and his head tilted towards the sky, he continued, "We got away by the skin of our teeth and managed to find a remote island to rest and heal up," he took a deep breath again and let it out slowly as he remembered how pissed off he had been at himself after all that, "I… I was so mad at myself for… for letting you down… so I went to blow off some steam, and then this old man appeared out of nowhere, and he told me that we weren't really supposed to be defeated so soon. I wasn't sure I could trust him, but my instincts told me he wanted to help or some shit. So I followed him and he told me that he had the power to send us back in time so we would have a second chance. I don't know if it was a devil fruit or not, and he told me it was dangerous so I didn't bother asking him about it." he cracked his eyes open for a second and chanced a look towards Luffy before closing them again, still having his head tilted to the sky. "I don't know if you spoke with him or not, but I'm hoping you did, cause I have no clue how to explain all this shit really. All I wanted was for us all to be able to continue on our journey to fulfil our dreams, all of our dreams, and he could help that to happen." He finally looked down to where Luffy was lying against the side of the boat. He had been sitting motionless through his explanation, revealing no emotion. Zoro was about to ask him to say something, anything, when Luffy had just lowered his head and shielded his eyes.

"I see…" Luffy said slowly, he had recognised the look in Zoro's eyes, it was the same look he'd had when he got flashbacks from the war and Ace dying in his arms. He hadn't even thought about how his nakama had reacted to what he had done. He had been so caught up in his own rage, he hadn't even thought about them. He felt like utter shit now, he had always said he didn't care if he died, but the thought of leaving his crew like that, it had just never crossed his mind. "… yeah I did talk to that old man, I don't know where I was, but it was in this place where it was all dark, and he came out of nowhere and told me it wasn't my time to go just yet, then he told me about what he was going to do, and he tried explaining stuff to me, but I didn't understand much of it. I was just so happy to get out of that place," he looked up at Zoro, trying to give him a silent apology for how he had acted back then, and then something struck him, "Hey? Why didn't he tell me any of you guys got sent back, too? I thought I was the only one!"

Zoro chuckled and rubbed his neck, glad for the distraction, "Ah, well that was my fault. Sorry about that, but I didn't want you to mess up our first time meeting each other," he looked sheepishly at Luffy, "Just something the old man said about anything that was changed now would change the future for good, and I seriously have no idea how much that applies to really. So… I didn't want to take any chances." He was glad Luffy wasn't mad at him for doing what he had done, it had been a totally selfish act on his part, and he had been afraid Luffy would have been angry with him for doing it.

Luffy looked disapprovingly at Zoro for not telling him, but he could sort of understand why he had done it, he would probably have done it too, "Oh okay. He told me that, too. So I've been trying to do what I did the last time, but I don't really remember everything that happened so I don't know if we have screwed up already or not. But I know one thing; we're getting all our nakama back!" He would do anything to get them all back, even if that meant they had to do everything exactly as they did the last time.

Zoro nodded in agreement, "I'm with you on that, if we're going to change anything important I would want it to be after we've gotten Brook back with us. Which means we have to be careful with what we're gonna do, at least up to that point." It would be hard doing everything exactly like they did the last time, but he'd do anything in his power to make it happen, that was for sure.

Luffy tilted his head back and looked at the sky, "That's going to be really hard; I don't remember everything we did, especially when we were in East Blue."

"Yeah me neither, we just have to take it as it comes, at least until we get Nami back. Maybe she remembers more than us." Zoro hoped her memory was better than his and Luffy's, if not, they could end up messing up the timing, he thought about Usopp's village where that pirate-butler was planning on killing Usopp's girlfriend. If they were late, both Usopp and the entire village would be slaughtered before they got there. "Man I'm hungry…"

"What Nami's back too?" Luffy cried out in shock.

"Um yeah, everyone's back," Zoro scratched his neck again, "- well… everyone's going to come back the day before they meet us, if their older self, the one from this time I mean, agrees to let them that is…" he seriously hoped everyone would agree to it. He knew Robin might be the hardest to convince, but he trusted that the Robin he knew now would find a way to do it.

Luffy beamed at Zoro, "Oh that's awesome! That's going to make everything a lot easier!" he felt relief wash over him again, everyone was going to be back, which meant that they didn't need to sneak around and keep it a secret. "Yeah, we've definitely got to go get Nami now then." Luffy tried remembering where she was going to be now; if he was right she would be in that town where Red Nose was. "So that means we're headed for where that buffoon is, right?" He knew he had met Nami when she had been chased by those idiots, but he couldn't really remember how he'd gotten there.

"Buffoon? Oh, you mean Buggy?" Zoro chuckled, of course Luffy wouldn't remember his name, not that it's worth remembering anyway.

"Yeah, that guy." Luffy knew his name; he just didn't bother using it, buffoon sounded a lot better in his opinion.

Zoro thought back to when he had first met Nami, trying to focus on the woman he knew from this time, and not the broken and injured one from his flashbacks. Wasn't it on that roof with Buggy and Luffy was in a cage? He cringed as he remembered how he had let his guard down and let Buggy stab him from behind; he would never let something like that happen ever again. "Yeah that's definitely where we first met her." Then another thought struck him, she had stolen Merry the last time, "Hey… are you going to let her take Merry again?"

Luffy thought for a second, _Nami had taken the ship to go back to her village right? So if she doesn't do that_ … "I think we have to… I don't know what will happen if she doesn't, but it might be bad right?"

"I don't know, we have to ask her what happened about that." Zoro didn't know the whole reason why Nami had run off with their ship, but if they were going to follow everything that happened the last time, they would have to talk with her and figure out what to do about that situation.

They drifted on the sea for a while, neither of them really knowing where they were heading, but both hoping they would manage to get to the next island soon. Luffy had been thinking of what Zoro had told him about what happened after he died, and he realised now that he couldn't throw his life away like that, at least not for his own personal vendetta. If he ever were to do it, it would be to protect the crew, and only then. Then he thought about what they were going to do in East Blue, how they had to do everything like last time so that they could gather the crew again without ruining anything, but that would also mean… "Hey Zoro…"

Zoro looked up from where he had been trying to meditate, again not succeeding in blocking out the thoughts; he had wanted to train on his observation haki to make it stronger again, "Hmm?"

Luffy was lying on his back, looking at the sky, "You're going to fight Mihawk again aren't you?" He wasn't mad at Zoro for wanting to do it; it was just that it would be hard watching him lose again.

Zoro cracked his eyes open, he had known this was bound to come up, "I have to. I know that last time I defied a direct order from you by doing what I did, and for that I'm truly sorry. I know you lost some trust in me after that. But do I have your permission to fight him this time, even though we both know I'm going to lose?"

Luffy sighed, he didn't like the fact that Zoro knew he was going to lose, it was like he had already given up, but then again, he was also glad that Zoro had realised just how big the gap between him and Mihawk were, "I gave my promise to never get in the way of your ambition, and I meant it. I could never stop you doing that even if I wanted to."

Zoro bowed his head, "Thank you captain." He was glad he didn't have to ruin the trust between him and Luffy again, now he could truly feel like Luffy's first mate without it being a position given to him simply because he was first to join, but because he actually had earned that spot among the crew.

Luffy's stomach suddenly gave loud rumble, "Maaan I'm hungry!" He looked up at the sky and spotted a pink bird flying overhead, _isn't that?_ "Oh food!" he jumped up and prepared to rocket himself up to it. Zoro looked up as well, "Damn it Luffy! Now I've got to chase after you again!" Too late though, as Luffy had already launched himself up to it, only this time he had grabbed onto his neck and preceded to twist himself around and land on the birds back like he would sit on a horse.

Zoro should have known it would happen, but he didn't have to like it any less because of that. He quickly got out their oars and started to paddle with lighting speed after Luffy and the bird, _well at least now we'll get to that damn island._ He didn't paddle long though before he spotted three of Buggy's lackeys in the ocean ahead of him, _fucking hell, now I have to deal with them as well?_ They started yelling at him to stop, but he couldn't be bothered, he needed to keep Luffy in sight if he was ever to get there, also he didn't want to let Luffy out of his sight, afraid he'd lose him again, not that he would ever admit that to anyone. "I don't have fucking time to stop, if you want a ride then grab on!"

When they actually managed to grab on and heave themselves into the boat at the speed he was going, Zoro couldn't help being slightly impressed at their tenacity, "Didn't expect you to make it, to be honest!" he chuckled. Which they promptly started shouting at him for, and then drew their sabres. Zoro shook his head, _why are all the pirates we meet in the East Blue such idiots?_ He didn't even bother unsheathing any of his katana and promptly beat them up with the saya of one of his unnamed blades; these guys didn't deserve any better.

"Who the fuck are you?" one of the goons shouted at him from where he was laying on the bottom of the boat, sporting a huge lump on his head. That was when one of the others noticed his three katanas, "Tha-that's… The Pirate Hunter… Roronoa Zoro!" They look like they're about to piss themselves, Zoro snorted. "You guys are idiots; now row this boat to your headquarters! I'm in a hurry!"

* * *

Nami was running down the streets of Orange Town, triumphant that she'd managed to get the chart, purposefully gotten caught, and had now three idiots running after her. Suddenly she heard a cannon go off behind her, and then heard the squawk of a bird as it was hit. She stopped to look at the sky and saw someone falling to the ground. She resisted the urge to facepalm, nobody but Luffy would be able to make an entrance like that.

Luffy fell hard into the ground, leaving a crater in his wake, and dust was flying everywhere. Nami stood still waiting for him to get up; she had to play this right if she was going to join up with him again.

"The hell? Where did that cannonball come from?" Luffy shook his head trying to get the ringing in his ears to stop. "Oh well, that was interesting at least." He stood up and looked around to see where he was, before he spotted Nami standing right in front of him.

Nami had to act fast she realised, she needed to be shocked in this situation as he would probably find it odd that a person in East Blue didn't find a guy, suddenly falling from the sky, weird in any sense, but it was hard, this was Luffy, he always ended up doing something like that. But she was also so happy to see him, she had thought she never would do that again, even when she'd seen him in Shells Town she wasn't sure it had been real, that maybe this was just some fantasy she had created in her mind to avoid dealing with what had happened. But he was here, right in front of her, and he looked and felt real. She was quick to put on her mask of feigned shock and tried not to look like she knew him at all, but she was barely holding it together. The only thing that kept her going was that she wasn't sure he was back, too, and it would ruin everything if he didn't remember her.

Luffy looked at Nami, she didn't seem to remember him, but Zoro had said she had gotten sent back, too, so he had assumed she would recognise him when they met, _Shit what do I do now?_

Nami saw the brief confusion flash in Luffy's eyes, and took that as her cue, "Oh boss thank god you're here!" She looked at him with puppy eyes before she went running off to climb up on that roof; she wanted to see what Luffy would do, though she had been reluctant to leave him now that he was finally there with her. But she had to make sure if he was back, too, or not.

Luffy looked after her as she ran away, once she had rounded the corner he turned to the three lackeys who were getting ready to pounce on him, "Hey, do you guys know where I can get some food?" In his brief confusion about what to do with Nami and this whole situation, he had forgotten how hungry he was, now that he was back to the present his stomach grumbled loudly.

"Don't screw with us!" one of the lackeys yelled at him and was about to smash his knuckles into Luffys face.

Luffy had seen the punch way ahead of time though, and seen that the guy had been in the process of knocking his strawhat off him. He dodged it effortlessly and glared at the lackey before he smashed his fist into his face, sending him flying into a nearby building. When the other two idiots saw that their friend had been beaten so effortlessly; they had snapped and charged at him, sabres raised and all.

Nami had easily climbed up onto the roof and was watching the fray; she needed to watch how Luffy fought, as that was the only way she could be sure he was back, too.

Luffy sidestepped the lackeys easily, they were too slow for him anyway, it's like they're moving in slow-motion. He chuckled slightly; I don't even need to use my powers for this. He quickly backhanded the idiots as they stumbled past him and sent them tumbling in to the ground, both out cold.

Nami sighed, _so he's back, too. Thank god!_ "Hey Luffy!" she slid down the roof and onto the balcony below, "- good to see I'm not the only one back!" she laughed, she was just so happy. Luffy was alive, and they had a chance to do everything right this time around.

Luffy had looked up at her as she called his name, he grinned "Hey Nami, I thought you weren't back, why didn't you say anything?"

Nami glared at him, "Of course I couldn't!" she yelled down at him. "I didn't know you were back, too! What if I had been the only one, how weird would it have been if I'd said anything and you had no idea who I was?"

"Shishishi, I guess that's true." he laughed. So it really was true, everyone was going to be back! He was about to run over to her when a sharp stab pierced his chest and he collapsed on the ground again, it wasn't really that bad, but he was so hungry he hadn't managed to stay on his feet. "Man I'm hungry," he wheezed out as his chest throbbed slightly, _food, I just need food, and I'll be alright._

Nami jumped down to the street and walked over to him frowning, she was sure that she'd seen him grit his teeth before falling to the ground, _that can't only be because he's hungry, can it?_ She knelt down beside him, frowning slightly as she looked at him fully, he didn't seem injured or anything, _maybe I just imagined it_. "Let's get you some food, there's some things we need to discuss."

* * *

 **AN:** Thanks for reading, please fav/follow, and as always, if you want to you can leave a review of what you think, or if you have questions.


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